BLACK STONE CONTRACT TABLET OF MARUDUK-NADIN-AHI,
page 96.
THE
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA,
BY THE LATE
GEORGE SMITH, ESQ.,
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM.
EDITED BY
REV. A. H. SAYCE,
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY, OXFORD.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
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PREFACE,
MR. GEORGE SMITH left his " History of Babylonia "
in so nearly complete a state, that an editor had little
more to do than to see it through the press, correct
one or two errors, and make a few additions.
In the performance of this work, which has been
one of mingled pain and pleasure, I have changed
the author's words and spelling only where there was
an obvious oversight, throwing other corrections into
footnotes. My own responsibility for these, as well as
for other footnotes containing additions to the text, is
indicated by a capital S. I have also to take upon
myself the responsibility of the Appendix upon the
meaning of the proper names, as well as of the table
of Babylonian kings and the larger part of the first
introductory chapter, of which only the first page or
two were written by Mr. Smith. Brackets mark the
inserted portion. The Index is due to the kindness
of Mr. Greenwood Hird.
Two expressions which will be met with in the
book need a short explanation. The abbreviation
W. A. I. denotes the series of volumes containing the
cruciform " Inscriptions of Western Asia," published
2032973
6 PREFACE.
by the Trustees of the British Museum, and forming
a collection of texts for the use of Assyrian students.
The " eponyms " mentioned in the course of the
work refer to the Assyrian mode of reckoning time.
Each year was called after a particular officer or
" eponym," who gave his name to it, like the Epony-
mous Archons at Athens. A new year was marked
by a new " eponym," and hence " the eponymy
of-such-and-such a person" became equivalent to
"the year so-and-so." Those who wish to investi-
gate the subject further cannot do better than con-
sult Mr. George Smith's " Assyrian Canon," one of
the last productions of a scholar whose loss to
Assyrian research cannot be over-estimated.
A. H. SAYCE.
TABLE OF CONTENTS,
List of Babylonian Kings, with their approximate dates page 9
CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTION page 13
CHAPTER II. — THE MYTHICAL PERIOD.
Origin and chronology of Babylonian history — The ten ante-
diluvian kings of Berosus — The Flood — The Garden of Eden
— The Izdhubar or Nimrod legends page 33
CHAPTER III. — CHALDEA, OR SOUTH BABYLONIA.
Nipur and Ur — Urukh and his buildings — The religion and
civilization of Ur — Dungi — The kings of Karrak — The rise of
Larsa page 63
CHAPTER IV. — UPPER BABYLONIA.
Cities of Upper Babylonia — Agu-kak-rimi — Sargon I. — Naram-
Sin — Hammurabi— Babylon made the capital — The successors
of Hammurabi, and the Kassite dynasty — Intercourse with
Assyria — The Assyrian conquest of Babylonia page 75
CHAPTER V. — THE ELAMITES IN BABYLONIA.
Elam or Susiana — Invasions of Babylonia by Kudur-nanhundi
and Chedorlaomer — Kudur-Mabuk — -Flood at Babylon — Wars
between Babylon and Assyria — Nebuchadnezzar I. and Ma-
ruduk-nadin-ahi — Seven unknown kings page 90
CHAPTER VI. — THE PERIOD OF THE ASSYRIAN WARS.
Obscure kings — Nabu-pal-idina and Assur-nazir-pal — Disputed
succession — Conquests of Shalmaneser — The Chaldees — Ma-
ruduk-zakir-izkur — Semiramis — The era of Nabonassar — The
Babylonian campaigns of Tiglath-pileser page 100
8 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.— MERODACH-BALADAN AND THE
DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON.
Merodach-baladan, the Chaldean, conquers Babylon — Defeated
by Sargon — Sargon king of Babylon for five years — Hagisa —
Merodach-baladan retakes Babylon— Battle of Kisu— Belibni
governor of Babylon — Assur-nadin-sum — Sennacherib's naval
expedition to Nagitu — Revolt of Suzub — Elam devastated by
the Assyrians— Battle of Khalule— Destruction of Babylon
by Sennacherib page 115
CHAPTER VIII. — THE RULE OF THE ASSYRIANS.
The successors of Assur-nadin-sum — Nabu-zir-napisti-esir —
Babylon rebuilt by Esar-haddon — Succeeded by his son Saul-
mugina — Wars with Elam — Revolt of Babylonia — Crushed
by Assur-bani-pal — Saul-Mugina perishes in the flames of his
palace — Nabopolassar appointed governor — He marries the
daughter of Cyaxares of Media — The fall of Nineveh page 137
CHAPTER IX. — THE EMPIRE OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
Rise of the Babylonian Empire — Egypt and Media — Nebuchad-
nezzar, his conquests and buildings — Destruction of Jerusalem
— Invasion of Egypt — Siege of Tyre — The kingdom of Lydia
— Babylon adorned — Character of Nebuchadnezzar — Evil-
Merodach — His murder — Nergalsharezer page 152
CHAPTER X. — THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE
BABYLONIAN EMPIRE.
Laborosoarchod — Nabonidus — Babylon fortified — Astyages and
Cyrus — Cyrus besieges Babylon — Babylon taken by the Per-
sians— The Darius of Daniel — Return of the Jews from exile
— Cambyses and Smerdis — Darius Hystaspes — Revolt and
capture of Babylon — Second revolt of Babylon under Arahu
—Babylon taken — Decline of Babylon page 170
LIST OF BABYLONIAN KINGS, WITH THEIR
APPROXIMATE DATES,
(Front Berosus and Abydenus.)
THE MYTHICAL PERIOD-BEFORE THE DELUGE,
Alorus of Babylon, "the Shepherd of the People," for 10 sari, or 36,000 years.
Alaparus, or Alasparus (? of Pantibibla), for 3 sari, or 10,800 years.
Amelon, or Amillarus of Pantibibla, for 13 sari, or 46,801 years.
Ammenon of Chaldea (in whose time the Musarus Cannes, or Annedotus, half
man and half fish, ascended from the Persian Gulf), for 12 sari, or 43,200
years.
Amegalahis, or Megalarus, or Metalarus, of Pantibibla, for 18 sari, or 64,800
years.
Daonus, or Daos, the shepherd, of Pantibibla (in whose time four double-shaped
beings, named Euedokus, Eneugannus, Eneubulus, and Anementus, as-
cended from the sea), for 10 sari, or 36,000 years.
Euedoreskhus, or Euedorakhus, of Pantibibla (in whose time another Annedotus,
called Odakon.or Ano-daphos, ascended from the sea), for 18 sari, or 64,800
years.
Amempsimus, a Chaldean of Larankha, for 10 sari, or 36,000 years.
Otiartes (Opartes), or Ardates, a Chaldean of Larankha (called Ubara-Tutu
" the Glow of Sunset," of Surippak, or Suripkhu in the inscriptions), for 8 sari,
or 28,800 years.
Sisithrus, or Xisuthrus, his son, for 18 sari, or 64,800 years. Kronos (Hea)
ordered him to build an ark, after burying a history of Babylonia in Sip-
para ; and the Deluge began on the isth of the month Daesius (May and
June). Sisithrus was translated after the Deluge, but his companions re-
turned to Chaldea and exhumed the buried records at Sippara. From the
reign of Alorus to the Deluge were 320 sari, or 432,000 years.
AFTER THE DELUGE.
First Dynasty of 86 Kings for 34,080 or 33,091 years, headed by Evekhous, or
Evexius, or Eutykhius (identified with Nimrod by Syncellus) for 4 neri,
or 2,400 years, and his son Comosbelus, or Khomasbelus, for 4 neri and 5
sossi. or 2,700 years.
Their five next successors were : —
Porus for 35 years.
Nekhubes for 43 years.
Nabius for 48 years.
Oniballus for 40 years.
Zinzerus for 46 years.
War of Titan (? Etanna), Bel, Prometheus, and Ogygus, against Kronus
Building of the Tower of Babel, and dispersion of mankind.
10
LIST OF BABYLONIAN KINGS,
HISTORICAL PERIOD.
Second dynasty of 8 Median kings, for
224 years, headed by Zoroaster (?}.
Third dynasty of n kings.
Fourth dynasty of 49 Chaldean kings
for 458 years.
Fifth dynasty of 9 Arabian kings for
245 years.1
1. Mardokentes, 45 years.
2. (Wanting.)
3. Sisimardakos, 28 years.
4. Nabius, 37 years.
5. Parannus, 40 years.
6 .Nabonnabus, 25 years.
Sixth dynasty consisting of Semiramis.
Seventh dynasty of 45 Assyrian kings
for 526 years.
Phulus and Nabonassar.
{From the Canon of Ptolemy. )
B.C.
Nabpnasar (Nabu-natsir),i4 years, 747
Nabius (Nebo-yusapsi), 2 years . 733
Chinzirus and Porus (Ucin-zir and
Pul), 5 years . . . .731
Iluheus, or Yugaeus (Yagina), 5
years 726
Mardokempadus (Merodach-Bala-
dan), 12 years . . . 721
709
704
Arkeanus (Sargon), 5 years .
Hagisa, or Akises, 30 days .
Merodach-Baladan (restored)
months 704
Belibus (Bel-ibni), 3 years . . 703
Apronadius (Assur-nadin-sum), 6
years 700
Rigebelus, i year .... 694
Mesesi-mordakus, 4 years . . 693
[Babylon destroyed B.C. 689].
Interregnum, 8 years . . . 689
Assaradinus (Essar-haddon), 13
years 681
Saosduchinus, or Sammughes
(Saul-mucin, or Saul-mugina),
20 years ..... 668
Kiniladanus (Assur-bani-pal), 22
years 648
Nabo-polassarus, 21 years . . 626
Nabokolasar (Nebuchadnezzar),
43 years . . . . .605
Ilouarodam (Evil-Merodach),
years . . . _ _.
Nerikassolasar, or Neriglissor
(Nergal-sarra-yutsur), 4 years 560
Laborosoarchodus, 3 months . 556
Nabonidus, or Labynetus (Nabu-
nahid), 17 years . . . 556
Cyrus takes Babylon . . 539-8
562
{Front the Inscriptions.)
AFTER THE DELUGE.
Mythical Period.
Ktanna.
Ner.
I™ } the husbands of Istar.
Banini, with his wife Milili, and seven
sons, the eldest of whom was Mi-
mangab, 'the thunderbolt.'
Izdhubar, the son of Dannat, 'the
strong woman."
Dimir-illat, his son.
Mul-ega-nunna.
Ane-kis.
Historical Period.
Kings of Ur.
B.C. 3000—2000
Lig-Bagas, king of all Babylonia.
[Khassimir was one of his viceroys.]
Dungi, his son.
Su-Agu.
Amar-Agu.
Ibil-Agu.
This dynasty is probably to be identified with the second Cassite o Kosssean
dynasty of the inscriptions. In this case the number of kings, as well as the
duration of their reigns given by the copyists of Berosus, will have to be largely
increased.
WITH THEIR APPROXIMATE DATES.
II
Viceroys.
Me-sa-Nana-calama, son of Be . . khuk,
of Eridhu.
Idadu, of Eridhu.
Adi-Anu, of Zerghul.
Gudea, of Zerghul.
Enu-Anu, of Zerghul.
Jlu-mutabil, of Diru (of a later date).
Elamite Kings in Babylonia.
Cudur-nankhundi. B.C. 2280
Chedorlaomer (Gen. xiv.).
Amar-pel, of Sumir (Shinar).
Arioch, of Ellasar.
Turgal, of Gutium.
Simti-silkhak.
Cudur-mabug, his son.
Kings of Larsa.
Nur-Rimmon.
Gasin . . .
Sin-idina.
Rim-Agu, or Eri-Acu (Arioch), son of
Cudur-Mabug.
Kings of Karrak.
B.C. 2000 — 1700
Gamil-Adar (also king of Ur).
Libit-Nana (also king of Ur).
Ismi-Dagon (also of Ur).
Gungunnuv, his son.
Hi . . zat.
Kings of Erech.
Belat-sunat (a queen).
Sin-gasit.
(Perhaps they preceded the kings of
Karrak).
Kings of Agane.
Ai . . .
Amat-nim . . .
Sargon, for 45 years.
Naram-Sin, his son.
Ellat-Gula, a queen.
(Conquered by Khammuragas. )
Kings of Babylon.
'Sumu . . .
Zabu (built the temples of Istar and
the Sun at Sippara).
Abil-'Sin.
'Sin- .
First Cassite Dynasty.
Ummikh-zirritu.
Agu-ragas, his son.
Abi . . his son.
Tassi-gurumas, his son.
Agu-kak-rimi, his son.
Kings of Babylon.
Second Cassite Dynasty (probably the
Arabians of Berosus) B.C. 1700 — 1300.
Khammuragas, cotemporary with
Samsu-iluna.
Ammi-dicaga.
Curi-galzu I.
Simmas-sipak I.
Ulam-buryas.
Nazi-murudas I.
Meli-sipak I.
Burna-buryas I.
Cara-Cit.
Saga-raktiyas.
Murudas-sipak.
Cara-indas .
Burna-buryas II.
Cara-murudas
Nazi-bugas
Curi-galzu II.
Meli-sipak II.
Merpdach-Baladan I.
Nazi-murudas II.
about 1430
. 1430
. 1410
. 1400
• 1380
• 1350
• 1325
. 1300
Tiglath-Adar
Rimmon- . . . bi
Zamam a-zacir-idin
Assyrian Dynasty.
B.C. 1270
1230
1200
12
LIST OF BABYLONIAN KINGS, ETC.
Chaldean Kings.
Nabu-cudura-yutsur (Nebuchad-
rezzar) ....
Cara-buryas ....
Merodach-nadin-akhi .
Merodach-sapik-zirrat
. . . Sadua ....
'Simmas-sipak, the son of Irba-Sin,
reigned 17 years.
Hea-mucin-ziri, the son of Cutmar
(an usurper), for 3 months.
Cassu-nadin-akhi, son of Sappai, for 6
years.
Dynasty from the Persian Gulf.
Ulbar-surci-idina, son of Bazi, for 15
years.
Nebuchadrezzar II., son of Bazi, for
2 years.
. . . Sukamuna, son of Bazi, for 3
months.
After these an Elamite for 6 years.
Rimmon-pal-idina.
Nebo-zacira-iscun.
Irba-Merodach.
150
1 20
IOO
097
080
Sin,
Merodach-Baladan II., his son.
Rimmon-zacira-yutsur.
Sibir (invaded South Assyria).
Nebo-baladan .' . ' . B.C. 880
Merodach-zacira-izcur . . . 853
Merodach-balasu-ikbu . . . 820
Nabu-natsir . . 747
Nabu-yusapsi .... 733
Ucin-ziru . . . . 731
Tiglath-Pileser (Porus) of Assyria 729
Yagina, chief of the Caldai . . 726
Merodach-B.dadan III., his son . 721
Sargon of Assyria . . . 709
Merodach-Baladan restored . 704
Bel-ibni 703
Assur-nadin-sumi .... 700
Suzub . . . . . 693
Essarhaddon of Assyria . .681
Saul-mucinu .... 668
Assur-bani-pal .... 648
Bel-zacira-iscun . . . . 626
Nabopalassar .... 626
Nebuchadrezzar III. . . . 605
Amil-Merodach .... 562
Nergal-'sarra-yutsur . . . 560
Nabu-nahid . . . . 556
Merodach-'sarra-yutsur . . 541
i Cyrus 538
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA,
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
BABYLONIA was bounded on the north by Assyria, on
the east by Elam, or Susiana, on the west by the
Desert of Arabia, and on the south by Arabia and
the Persian Gulf. The country is watered by the
lower courses of the Euphrates and Tigris, and in fact
it may be considered as entirely the gift of those
streams. Babylonia is in general a long level tract
of alluvial soil, which has been deposited through
several thousand years at the mouths of these
rivers. Through the accumulation of new ground at
the points where the Tigris and Euphrates discharge
themselves into the Persian Gulf, the Babylonian
territory has steadily increased from age to age. In
early Chaldean times the sea reached to Abu-Shahrein ,
in the time of Sennacherib it had receded to Bab-
!4 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Salimiti; in the days of Nebuchadnezzar the port was
moved out to Teredon, and since the fall of Babylon
many miles have been added to the land.
The inhabitants of Babylonia have always mainly
consisted of two classes, the agricultural population
and dwellers in towns on one side, and the wandering,
pastoral, tent-dwelling tribes on the other. The
greatest feature of the country was its agriculture,
which was mainly carried on through artificial irriga-
tion, the whole country being intersected with canals,
some of them navigable and of great size, their banks
in some places being from twenty to thirty feet high.
The long deserted lines of mounds, which even now
exist in hundreds, marking the lines of these artificial
rivers, form far more remarkable objects than the
ruined cities and palaces. Once these channels
teemed with life and industry, and were lined with
cities containing thousands of people ; now they are
an arid desert waste, supporting only a few wandering
tribes of Arabs. Babylonia is without doubt the oldest
civilized country in Asia, and even outside that con-
tinent only Egypt can rival it in this respect ; but the
history of Babylonia has an interest beyond that of
Egypt, on account of its more intimate connection
with the origin of our own civilization : Babylonia
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 15
was the centre from which civilization spread into
Assyria, from thence to Asia Minor and Phoenicia,
from these to Greece and Rome, and from Rome to
modern Europe.
Our astronomical system came originally from the
plains of Chaldea. The Babylonians divided the face
of the heavens into constellations of stars, and named
these after their supposed influence, or from their
resemblance to various fantastic forms.
Mathematics, measures of time and capacity,
weights and scales, laws and government, and every-
thing known in ancient times, received study and
attention, while the arts of building, sculpture, paint-
ing, gem-engraving, metal-work, weaving, and many
others made proportionate progress.
In spite of the skill and knowledge of the Baby-
lonians, and their wonderful progress in arts and
sciences, they had a religion of the lowest and most
degrading kind. True insight into natural phenomena
was prevented, and progress beyond the surface of
things stopped by a religion which had a multitude
of gods, who were supposed to bring about in an
irregular and capricious manner all the changes in
nature and all the misfortunes which happened to the
people ; thus foresight and medicine were neglected,
1 6 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
and unavailing prayers and useless sacrifices offered
to propitiate the deities who were imagined to hold
the destiny of the human race in their hands.
In the hands of some of the nobler poets of the
Babylonians their mythology received a polish and
finish, and was woven together into such graceful
mythical forms, that their works may compare with
those of Greece and Rome ; but among the bulk of
the people a low and sensual view was taken of all
these matters, and their worship was nothing better
than an adoration of stocks and stones.
The Babylonians were essentially a peaceful race.
War was seldom indulged in by them, except it was
forced upon them, either by their political position
or through the action of states outside their own
borders. Only once in their history are they known
to have made a great empire, and that was in the
time of Nebuchadnezzar.
The wonderful system of writing, called, from the
shape of the characters, cuneiform, or wedge-shaped,
was invented by the original Turanian inhabitants of
Babylonia.
[The characters were originally hieroglyphics, repre-
senting objects or combinations of objects, or symbol-
izing ideas. The pronunciation attached to the
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 17
characters was accordingly the name of the object or
idea which they signified in the ancient Babylonian
language. In course of time the characters came to
be used, not only to represent objects and ideas, but
also to denote mere sounds. Thus the character
which signified " a memorial," mu in the ancient
language, came also to express simply the pronuncia-
tion of the first personal pronoun mu. When the
characters were subsequently borrowed by Semitic
tribes akin to the Hebrews and Arabs, and the
ancestors of the later Babylonians and Assyrians, the
sounds attached to the characters, which had been
significant in the older language, became so many
mere phonetic values ; mi, for instance, signified
"black" in the older, so-called Accadian, language,
but it was simply a meaningless phonetic value in the
later Assyrian.]
The chief cities of Babylonia were the following: —
Now represented by
Ur or Uru, literally " the City " ... Mugheir.
ErechorUruk Warka.
Nipur, the city of Bel Niffer.
Larsa, perhaps the Ellasar of Genesis
xiv. ... ... ... ... Senkereh.
c
1 8 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Now represented by
Babylon or Babel, originally called
Ca-dimirra, " Gate of God " ... Hillah.
Agand, near Sippara Part of Sura.
Tiggaba or Kute (Cuthah) Tel Ibrahim.
KisuorKis Hymar.
Sippara or Sepharvaim, the city of
the sun-god Sura.
Zirgulla Zerghul.
Dur or Diru, literally " The Fortress " Ddyr.
Eridhu, in the south-east of Baby-
lonia Site unknown.
Duran or Duban Site unknown.
Karrak or Nisin Site unknown.
Amarda or Marad Site unknown.
Abnunna or Mullias or Umliyas ... Site unknown.
Accadian literature was very extensive, and the
libraries with which the country was stocked were full
of treatises on all the branches of knowledge pursued
by the ancient Chaldeans. One of the most famous
of these libraries was that at Agane', established by
Sargon. It contained the great Babylonian work on
astronomy and astrology in seventy books, which
was called the " Illumination of Bel," and was after-
wards translated into Greek by the historian Berosus.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 19
Part of the catalogue of the library has come down to
us, having been preserved in a copy made for the
library of Assur-bani-pal, at Nineveh, and it includes
treatises on the conjunction of the sun and the moon,
on the movements of Mars and Venus, and on comets,
which are termed " stars with a tail behind and a
corona in front," as well as a direction to the student,
who is told to write down the number of the tablet
or book he wants to consult, and the librarian will
thereupon hand it to him. It must be remembered
that most of the literature of the Babylonians was
stamped upon the clay so abundant in the country,
the clay being afterwards hardened in the fire, a
comparatively small portion of it being written upon
papyrus, and hence a clay tablet became synonymous
with a book. Another famous library was at Senkereh,
or Larsa, which was rich in mathematical works.
Some of these, one a table of squares and another
of cubes, are now in the British Museum. Under
Nebuchadnezzar Babylon enjoyed two libraries, and
there seems to have been a very old one at Ur. The
legends relating to the Deluge were brought to
Nineveh from the library of Erech, and one of the
legends of the Creation from the library of Cuthah.
Attached to the library was an observatory, and the
C 2
2O HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
astronomer-royal, as we may term him, had to send fort-
nightly reports of his observations to the king. Some
of these we possess, and translations of them will be
found in the " Records of the Past," Vol. L, 155-159-
A very curious portion of the Accadian literature is
a collection of charms and formulae of exorcism, which
seems to belong to the very earliest period of Baby-
lonian history. There are magic formulas of all kinds,
some to ward off sorcery, some to bewitch other
persons. Closely connected with these are various
treatises on divination and lists of omens by which it
was believed the future might be known. Thus there
are tables of omens from dreams, from births, from
the inspection of the hand or the entrails of animals,
and from the objects a traveller meets with on the
road. The following translation will give some idea
of these curious tables : —
" (If a blue dog enters a palace, that palace) will be
burned.
(If), a yellow dog enters a palace, exit from that
palacr will be baneful.
(If) a spotted dog enters a palace, that palace will
give its peace to the enemy.
(TO a dog goes to a palace and kills some one, that
palace is deprived of peace.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 21
(If) a dog goes to a palace and lies down on a bed,
that palace none with his hand will take.
(If) a dog goes to a palace and lies down on the
throne, that palace will be burned."
Some of the omens are hardly likely to happen,
however desirable their consequences may be. Thus
we are told that "when a sheep bears a lion, the arms
of the king will be powerful, and the king will have
no rival." Others of them are obvious enough in
their connection ; " to dream of bright fire," for
instance, ''forebodes a fire in the city," and "the
sight of a decaying house " was a sign of misfortune
to its occupant. Here is a specimen of the exorcisms
adopted to drive away evil spirits and the diseases
they were imagined to occasion : —
"The noxious god, the noxious spirit of the neck,
the spirit of the desert, the spirit of the mountains,
the spirit of the sea, the spirit of the morass, the
noxious cherub of the city, this noxious wind which
seizes the body (and) the health of the body : O,
spirit of heaven, remember ! O, spirit of earth,
remember !
" The burning spirit of the neck which seizes the
man, the burning spirit which seizes the man, the
spirit which works evil, the creation of the evil spirit :
22 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
O, spirit of heaven, remember ! O, spirit of earth,
remember !
" Wasting, want of health, the evil spirit of the
ulcer, spreading quinsey of the gullet, the violent
ulcer, the noxious ulcer : O, spirit of heaven, remem-
ber ! O, spirit of earth, remember !
" Sickness of the entrails, sickness of the heart, the
palpitation of a sick heart, sickness of bile, sickness of
the head, noxious colic, the agitation of terror, flatu-
lency of the entrails, noxious illness, lingering sickness,
nightmare : O, spirit of heaven, remember ! O,
spirit of earth, remember ! "
The most dreaded of the powers of evil were the
seven "baleful" spirits or winds, originally the storm-
clouds, of whom it was said by an ancient poet of
Eridhu : " Those seven in the mountain of the
sunset were begotten : those seven in the mountain of
the sunrise did grow up. In the deep places of the
earth have they their dwelling : in the high places of
the earth have they their name." One of the formulas
of exorcism contains the following hymn in reference
to them : —
" Seven (are) they, seven (are) they.
In the abyss of the deep seven (are) they.
In the brightness of heaven seven (are) they.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 23
In the abyss of the deep in a palace (was) their
growth.
Male they (are) not, female they (are) not.1
Moreover the deep (is) their pathway.
Wife they have not, child is not born to them.
Law (and) kindness know they not.
Prayer and supplication hear they not.
(Among) the thorns of the mountain (was) their
growth.
To Hea (the god of the sea) (are) they hostile.
The throne-bearers2 of the gods (are) they.
Disturbing the lilies in the torrent are they set.
Wicked (are) they, wicked (are) they.
Seven (are) they, seven (are) they, seven twice
again (are) they."
The hymns to the seven wicked spirits introduce us
to the great collection of hymns to the gods, which
was compiled B.C. 2000, and formed at once the
Chaldean Bible and liturgy. M. Lenormant has
aptly compared it with the Rig- Veda of ancient India.
Like the latter, it embodied hymns of various dates
and authorship, and it seems to have been put
1 The Accadian text, in accordance with the respect paid to
women in Accad, reverses this order.
This illustrates the verse in the account of the Deluge
which describes how, in the course of the storm, " the throne-
bearers went over mountain and plain."
24 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
together at the time of a great religious reform, when
the Shamanistic beliefs of the early Accadians were
fused into the organized polytheism of their Semitic
conquerors. As an example of these hymns may be
quoted one of those which are addressed to Samas,
the sun-god : —
"O Lord, the illuminator of darkness, thou that
openest the face (of sorrow),
Merciful God, the setter up of the fallen, the sup-
porter of the sick,
Unto thy light look the great gods,
The spirits of earth all of them bow before thy face,
The language of praise like one word thou directest,
The host of their heads bow before the light of the
mid-day sun.
Like a wife thou submittest thyself, joyfully and
kindly :
Yea, thou art their light in the vault of the distant
heaven,
Of the broad earth their banner art thou.
Men far and wide bow before thee and rejoice."
In another hymn, Merodach, a form of the sun-god
and benefactor of mankind, is thus made to address
the lightning, which is metaphorically called the
scimitar, wherewith he smote the dragon Tihamtu in
the war of the gods : —
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 25
" The sun of fifty faces, the lofty weapon of my
divinity, I bear.
The hero that striketh the mountains, the propitious
sun of the morning that is mine, I bear.
My mighty weapon, which like the sacrificial flame
devours in a circle the corpses of the fighters,
I bear.
The striker of mountains, my murderous weapon of
Arm (the god of the sky), I bear.
The striker of mountains, the fish with seven tails,
that is mine, I bear.
The terror of battle, the destroyer of rebel lands, that
is mine, I bear.
The defender of conquests, the great sword, the fal-
chion of my divinity, 1 bear.
That from whose hand the mountain escapes not, the
hand of the hero of battle, I bear.
The delight of heroes, my spear of battle, (I bear).
My crown which strikes against men, the bow of the
lightning, (I bear).
The crusher of the temples by rebel lands, my club
and buckler of battle, (I bear).
The lightning of battle, my weapon of fifty heads,
(I bear).
The thunderbolt of seven heads, like the huge serpent
of seven heads, (I bear).
Like the serpent that beats the sea, (which attacks)
the foe in the face.
The devastator of forceful battle, lord over heaven
2 6 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
and earth, the weapon of (seven) heads, (I
bear).
That which maketh the light come forth like day, the
god of the east, my burning power, (I bear).
The establisher of heaven and earth, the fire-god, who
has not his rival, (I bear).
The weapon which (fills) the world (with) overwhelm-
ing fear,
In my right hand mightily made to go ; (the weapon
that) of gold (and) crystal
Is wrought for admiration, my God who ministers to
life, (I bear)."
Still more remarkable is a penitential psalm, from
which the following verses may be selected : —
"O my Lord, my transgression (is) great, many (are)
my sins.
O my God, my transgression (is) great, my sins (are
many),
O my Goddess, my transgression (is) great, my sins
(are many).
O my God, that knowest (that) I knew not, my trans-
gression (is) great, my sins (are many).
O my Goddess, that knowest (that) I knew not, my
transgression (is) great, my sins (are many).
The transgression (that) I committed I knew not.
The sin (that) I sinned I knew not.
The forbidden thing did I eat.
The forbidden thing did I trample upon.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 2^
My Lord in the wrath of his heart has punished me.
God in the strength of his heart has overpowered me.
The Goddess upon me has laid affliction and in pain
has set me.
God, who knew (that) I knew not, hath pierced me.
The Goddess, who knew (that) I knew not, hath
caused darkness.
I lay on the ground and no man seized me by the
hand.
I wept, and my palms none took.
I cried aloud ; there was none that would hear me.
I am in darkness and trouble ; I lifted not myself up.
To my God my (distress) I referred ; my prayer I
addressed.
The feet of my Goddess I embraced.
To (my) God, who knew (that) I knew not, (my
prayer) I addressed.
******
O my God, seven times seven (are) my transgressions,
my transgressions (are) before me."
Of a very different character is the following prayer
after a bad dream (W. A. I., iv., 66-2) :
" May my God give rest to my prayer. . . .
May my Lord (grant) a merciful return (from trouble).
This day directs unto death the terrors (of night).
O my Goddess, be favourable unto me and hear my
prayer.
28 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
May she deliver (me) from my sin ; may my offering
be accepted.
May the Deity deliver, may she be gracious to (my)
gift.
My transgression may the seven winds carry away.
May the worm destroy (it), may the bird bear (it)
aloft to heaven.
May the shoal of fish carry (it) away into the river.
May their tail and back receive (it) for me : may the
waters of the river as they flow dissolve (it)
for me.
Enlighten me also like an image of gold,
Like rich fat make me fat before thee.
Seize the worm, bury it alive : bury (it beneath) thy
altar, thy multitudes seize.
With the worm cause (me) to pass and let me find
protection with thee.
Dismiss me, and let a favourable dream come.
May the dream I dream be favourable ; may the
dream I dream be true.
The dream I dream to prosperity turn.
May Makhir, the god of dreams, rest upon my head.
Make me great, and to Bit-Saggal, the temple of the
gods, the temple of Adar,
Unto Merodach, the merciful, for prosperity, to his
prospering hands deliver me.
May thy descent be made known, may thy divinity
be glorious,
May the men of my city celebrate thy mighty deeds."
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 2 9
All these hymns are translated from Accadian into
Assyrian, the original Accadian text being placed in a
parallel column on the left-hand side of the Assyrian
translation.
The mythological poems given in Mr. Smith's
" Chaldean Account of Genesis " are another proof
of the extent to which poetry was cultivated in ancient
Babylonia. Some of these are noticed subsequently,
more especially the account of the Deluge and the
great Izdhubar epic of which it forms an episode.
This epic is a redaction of a number of independent
poems of earlier date, the thread which runs through
the whole and connects it together being the adven-
tures of Izdhubar. The epic was probably put
together in its present form about 2000 years B.C. ;
it is compiled on an astronomical principle, being
divided into twelve books, each answering to a sign
of the Zodiac and the Accadian month which was
named after it. Thus the account of the Deluge is
introduced into the eleventh book or lay, which cor-
responds with the sign Aquarius and the " rainy
month " of the Accadian calendar.
The people of Accad were not neglectful of law.
Probably the oldest table of laws in existence is the
one which was copied and translated for the library
•jO HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
of Nineveh, and in which we find that the life and
status of the slave are recognized and provided for,
and the mother is regarded as of more importance
than the father, as is still the case with many Altaic
tribes. The first two columns of the table are un-
fortunately too much broken to be read ; the last two
run as follows, beginning, it will be observed, with a
list of legal precedents : —
" A certain man's brother-in-law hired (workmen) and
built an enclosure on his foundation. From
the house (the judge) expelled him.
In every case let a married man put his child in pos-
session of property, provided that he does not
make him inhabit it.
For the future (the judge may) allow a sanctuary to
be erected in a private demesne.
(A man) has full possession of a sanctuary on his own
high place.
The sanctuary (a man) has raised is confirmed to the
son who inherits.
Effaced.
(A man) shall not (deny) his father and his mother.
(If a man) has named a town, but not laid the
foundation-stone, he may change (the name).
This imperial rescript must be learnt.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 31
Everything which a married woman encloses, she
(shall) possess.
In all cases for the future (these rules shall hold good).
A decision. A son says to his father : Thou art not
my father, (and) confirms it by (his) nail-mark
(on the deed) ; (the son) gives him a pledge
and pays him silver.
A decision. A son says to his mother : Thou art not
my mother ; his hair is cut off, (in) the city
they exclude him from earth and water, and in
the house imprison him.
A decision. A father says to his son : Thou art not
my son ; in house and brick building they
imprison him.
A decision. A mother says to her son : Thou art not
my son ; in house and property they imprison
her.
A decision. A woman is unfaithful to her husband,
and says to him : Thou art not my husband ;
into the river they throw her.
A decision. A husband says to his wife : Thou art
not my wife : half a maneh of silver he weighs
out (in compensation).
A decision. A master kills (his) slaves, cuts them to
pieces, injures their offspring, drives them from
the land and makes them sick ; his hand every
day shall measure out a half-measure of corn
(in requital)."
32 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
It is hardly necessary to describe Babylonian litera-
ture in further detail. It comprised beast-fables,
riddles of a somewhat elementary kind, contract-
tablets, deeds of sale, geographical lists, chronological
tables, historical documents, copies of correspondence,
and catalogues of the various animals, trees, stones,
and other objects known to the Babylonians. Mathe-
matics were not disregarded, and the figures of geo-
metry were even made to serve the purposes of a
superstitious divination. The insight thus afforded
us into the literary activity and interests of a people
whose very existence was almost forgotten but a few
years ago, is one of the most remarkable revelations
of the present century.
CYLINDRICAL SEALS.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 33
CHAPTER II.
THE MYTHICAL PERIOD.
Origin and chronology of Babylonian history — The ten ante-
diluvian kings of Berosus— The Flood — The Garden of Edeii
— The Izdhubar or Nimrod legends.
Ix the antiquity of its civilization and history
Babylonia has no rival in Asia, and the only country
in the world which can compare with it, in these
respects, is Egypt.
The history of Babylonia has an interest of a wider
kind than that of Egypt, from its more intimate con-
nection with the general history of the human race.
and from the remarkable influence which its religion,
its science, and its civilization have had on all subse-
quent human progress.
Its religious traditions, carried away by the Israel-
ites who came out from Ur of the Chaldees,1 have
1 Gen. xi. 31.
r>
34 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
through this wonderful people, become the heritage
of all mankind, while its science and civilization,
through the medium of the Greeks and Romans, have
become the bases of modern research and advance-
ment.
The extent of country comprehended under the
name of Babylonia varied at different times, and it is
impossible to fix the exact boundaries of the country
at any period during the empire, for alternate conquest
and defeat caused the boundaries to fluctuate con-
tinually. Generally speaking, it comprehended the
country from near the Lower Zab to the Persian Gulf,
about 400 miles long, and from Elam, east of the
Tigris, to the Arabian Desert, west of the Euphrates,
an average breadth of 150 miles.
Within this space, in early times, there were several
kingdoms ; and often, at a later period, local chiefs
made themselves independent ; for, the country, being
peopled by several distinct tribes, there was a want of
nationality and patriotism.
It is generally supposed that Babylonia was peopled
in early times by Turanian tribes (tribes allied to the
Turks and Tatars), and that these were conquered
and dispossessed by the Semites. This change is very
doubtful, although supported by much learned argu-
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 35
ment, grounded on the nature of the Babylonian
language and writing.1
The history of Babylonia, from its own records, was
translated into Greek by a Chaldean priest, named
Berosus, who lived in the third century before the
Christian era. The history of Berosus is lost, except-
ing an imperfect outline of his chronology and an
account of the antediluvians, the Flood, and the time
of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors.
The fragments of Berosus are so few, and it is so
difficult to arrange his epochs, that they afford little
aid in composing the history of the country.
On the other hand, the Babylonian and Assyrian
1 I have left the contradiction between this passage and that
on p. 1 6, because it expresses Mr. Smith's hesitation on the
matter. Whether or not the early inhabitants and civilizers of
Chaldea were allied to the Turks and Tatars of the present day
— a point which is extremely doubtful — at all events they spoke
an agglutinative language ; that is, a language in which the
relations of grammar are denoted, not by inflections, but by the
attachment of independent or semi-independent words. The
Accadian language, as it is usually termed, was closely allied to
the dialects spoken in Elam, as well as to that of the Protomedic
subjects of the Persian kings. M. Lenormant has argued ably
in behalf of the view that this whole group of languages, though
standing by itself, yet ultimately goes back to the same source
as the Finnic family of tongues. — S.
D 2
36 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
inscriptions which supply most of our historical infor-
mation, give very little insight into the chronology ;
so, even with the aids from ancient authors, the earlier
part of the history is merely fragmentary. The
Babylonian histories commenced with a description
of the creation, similar in some respects to the one in
Genesis, and then went on to relate that the Baby-
lonians were first ruled by a king named Alorus, in
whose time there came up out of the Persian Gulf a
being named Cannes, who was half man, half fish,
something like the Dagon of the Philistines. Cannes
is said to have taught the Babylonians all their learn-
ing, and to have imparted to them the arts of civilized
life.
According to the Babylonians, there were ten kings,
beginning with Alorus, before the Flood ; these ten
agreeing in number with the ten patriarchs in Genesis ;
but an extravagant length was given by the Babylo-
nians to this period, their statement being that the ten
kings reigned for 432,000 years.
Beside the creature Cannes, they related that
several similar beings came out of the Persian Gulf;
and they otherwise adorned their narrative with
marvels and legends to make up for the total want of
real histon*.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 37
The ninth of the kings before the Flood, according
to the Babylonians, was named Ubara-tutu, and he
corresponds in position to the Lamech of the Bible,
who was father of Noah.
Ubara-tutu was succeeded by his son Adrahasis, or
Hasisadra, who corresponds to the Noah of the
Bible. In his time it is recorded that the whole of
mankind had become wicked, and the Babylonian
deities resolved to destroy the earth by a deluge.
Hasisadra being a pious man, was commanded to
build an ark, wherein himself, his family, and friends,
and pairs of all animals should be preserved during
the Flood. The Chaldean monarch accordingly built
this vessel, and in it was saved.
The Chaldean story of the Deluge is so remarkable
that I repeat it here as it is given on the tablets,
namely as a speech put into the mouth of Hasisadra,
or Noah. I append a series of notes of the parallel
passages in Genesis for comparison.
38 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Extract from the Eleventh Tablet of the Izdhubar
Legends, giving the Chaldean account of the Deluge.
COLUMN I.
Line
8. Xisithrus * to him also said even to Izdhubar :
9. "Be revealed to thee Izdhubar the concealed
story,
10. and the oracle of the gods to thee be related even
to thee.
11. The city Surippak the city which thou estab-
lishedest . . . situated,
1 2. that city is ancient and the gods (dwell) within it
13 their servant the great gods
14 the god Anu
15 the god Elu
1 6 the god Ninip
17. and the god .... the lord of Hades,
1 8. their will he repeated to the midst (of it), and
19. I his will was hearing and he spake to me :
1 Xisithrus, or rather Xisuthrus, is the name given to the
Babylonian Noah by Berosus. It is questionable whether Mr.
Smith was right in regarding the words adra khasis, which occur
in the Flood tablets, as the name of the hero of them. The name
of the latter is usually written with two ideographs, read Tam-zi
in Accadian, the first of which signifies " the sun," and the second
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 39
Line
20. Surippakite, son of Ubara-tutu,
21. . . . make a ship after this (manner)
22. ... I remember the sinner1 and life . . .
23. cause to ascend the seed of life all of it, to the
midst of the ship.
24. The ship which thou shalt make
25. 600 (?) cubits shall be the measure of its length,
(and)
26. 60 ? cubits the amount of its breadth and its
height.
27. . . . into the deep launch it.
28. I perceived and said to Hea my lord :
29. the ship making which thou commandest thus,
30. when (?) by me it shall be done,
31. [I shall be derided by] young men and old men.
32. Hea opened his mouth and spake and said to me
his servant,
33 thou shalt say unto them,
34 he has turned from me and
35 fixed over me
36 like caves ....
37 above and below . . .
38 close the ship ....
39 the flood which I will send to you,
40. into it enter and the door of the ship turn.
41. Into the midst of it, thy grain, thy furniture, and
thy goods,
1 Or "seed."
40 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Line
42. thy wealth, thy women servants, thy female slaves.
and the young men,
43. the beasts of the field, the animals of the. field.
all I will gather and
44. I will send to thee, and they shall be enclosed in
thy door.
45. Xisithrus his mouth opened and spake and
46. said to Hea his lord ;
47. whosoever the ship will not make ....
48. in the earth enclosed ....
49. ... may I see also the ship . . .
50. ... on the ground the ship . . .
51. the ship making which thou commandest (thus)
52. which in ....
COLUMN II.
1. strong ....
2. on the fifth day .... it
3. in its circuit 14 measures (in) its frame
4. 14 measures it measures . . . over it
5. I placed its roof, it ... I enclosed it.
6. I rode in it for the sixth time, I (examined its ex-
terior) for the seventh time,
7. its interior I examined for the eighth time ;
8. with planks the water from within it I stopped,
9. I saw rents and the wanting parts I added,
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 41
Line
10. three measures of bitumen I poured over the
outside,
11. three measures of bitumen I poured over the
inside,
12. three . . . men carrying its baskets? they con-
structed boxes,
13. I gave? the boxes for which they had sacrificed
an offering
14. two measures of boxes I had distributed to the
boatmen,1
15. to . . . . were sacrificed oxen
1 6 for every day
17. in .... wine in receptacles and wine
18. (I collected) like the waters of a river and
19. (food) like the dust? of the earth also
20. (I collected in) boxes, with my hand I placed.
21. ... Shamas . . . material of the ship completed,
22 strong and
23. the reed oars ? of the ship I caused to bring above
and below.
24 they went in two-thirds of it.
25. All I possessed the strength of it, all I possessed
the strength of it in silver,
26. all I possessed the strength of it in gold,
27. all I possessed the strength of it, even the seed
of life, the whole
1 The translation of these lines is very doubtful. — S.
42 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Line
28. I caused to go up into the ship, all my male ser-
vants and my female servants,
29. the beast of the field, the animal of the field, the
sons of the people, all of them I caused to
go up.
30. A flood Shamas made and
31. he spake saying (?) : in the night I will cause it to
rain from heaven heavily,
32. enter into the midst of the ship and shut thy door.
33. That flood happened (of which)
34. he spake saying : in the night I will cause it to
rain from heaven heavily.
35. In the day I celebrated his festival,
36. during the day watch fear I had to watch.
37. I entered into the midst of the ship and shut my
door.
38. To close the ship to Buzur-sadi-rabi the boat-
man
39. the palace (the ark) I gave with its goods.
40. A storm at dawn in the morning
41. arose, from the horizon of heaven extending and
wide.1
42. Vul 2 in the midst of it thundered, and
43. Nebo and Saru went in front,
1 Rather " rain and darkness." — S.
2 Read Rimmon (Assyrian Ramman). Rimmon should be
substituted for Vul wherever it occurs. — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 43
Line
44. the throne-bearers l went over mountains and
plains,
45. the destroyer Nergal overturned,
46. Ninip went in front (and) cast down,
47. the spirits of earth carried destruction,
48. in their glory they swept the earth ;
49. the flood of Vul reached to heaven.
50. The bright earth to a waste was turned.
COLUMN III.
1. The surface of the earth like .... it swept,
2. (it destroyed) all life (from) the face of the
earth . . .
3. the strong (deluge) over the people, reached to
(heaven).
4. Brother saw not his brother, it did not spare the
people. In heaven
5. the gods feared the flood, and
6. sought refuge ; they ascended to the heaven of
Arm.2
7. The gods like dogs fixed in droves were prostrate.
8. Spake Ishtar like a child,3
1 That is, the seven wicked spirits or storm-gods.
' That is, the highest heaven.
3 Rather "mother."
44 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Line
9. uttered Rubat l her speech :
10. All to corruption are turned, and
1 1. when I in the presence of the gods had prophesied
evil,
1 2. thus I prophesied in the presence of the gods evil :
13. to evil are devoted (all) my people, and I pro-
phesied :
14. I the mother have begotten my people, and
1 5. like the young of the fishes they fill the sea.
1 6. The gods concerning the spirits of earth were
weeping with her,
17. the gods in seats were seated in lamentation,
1 8. covered were their lips for the coming flood.
19. Six days and nights
20. passed ; the wind, deluge, and storm overwhelmed.
21. On the seventh day in its course (the rain from)
heaven (and) all the deluge
22. which had destroyed like an earthquake,
23. quieted. The sea one caused to dry, and the wind
and deluge ended.
24. I perceived the sea making a tossing;2
25. and the whole of mankind was turned to cor-
ruption,
26. like reeds the corpses floated.
27. I opened the window, and the light broke over
my face,
1 That is, "Great Lady," Istar.
2 Rather " noise."— S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 45
Line
28. it passed, and I sat down and wept ;
29. over my face flowed my tears.
30. I perceived the shore and the boundary of the sea,
31. for twelve measures the land rose.
32. To the country of Nizir went the ship ;
33. the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship, and to
pass over it, it was not able.
34. The first day and the second day the mountain
of Nizir stopped it.
35. The third day and the fourth day the mountain
of Nizir stopped it.
36. The fifth and sixth, the mountain of Nizir stopped
it.
37. On the seventh day in the course of it
38. I sent forth a dove, and it left. The dove went
and turned and
39. a resting-place it could not enter, and it returned.
40. I sent forth a swallow and it left. The swallow
went and turned and
41. a resting-place it could not enter, and it returned.
42. I sent forth a raven and it left
43. The raven went and the corpses which were on
the water it saw and
44. it did eat, it swam, it wandered away, it did not
return.
45. I sent forth (the animals) to the four winds, I
poured out a libation, :
46. I built an altar on the peak of the mountain,
46 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Line
47. by sevens jugs of wine I took,
48. at the bottom of them I placed reeds, pines, and
spices.
49. The gods collected at its burning, the gods col-
lected at its good burning ;
50. the gods like flies over the sacrifice gathered.
51. From of old also Rubat in her course
52. carried the great brightness? which Anu had
created. When the glory ....
53. those gods, the charm of crystal round my neck
may I not leave ;
COLUMN IV.
1. in those days I desire'd that for ever may I not
leave them.
2. May the gods come to my altar,
3. May Elu not come to my altar,
4. for he did not consider and had made a deluge,
5. and my people he had consigned to the deep. A
6. From what time also Elu in his course
7. saw, the ship Elu took; with anger he filled the
gods even spirits of earth :
8. Let not life ever come out, let not a man be
saved from the deep.2
9. Ninip his mouth opened, and spake ; he said to
the warrior Elu :
1 Rather " a vessel."— S. 2 Rather " in the vessel."— S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 47
Line
i o. Who then will ask Hea the matter he has done,
n. and Hea knowing also all things ....
12. Hea his mouth opened and spake, he said to
the warrior Elu :
13. Thou just prince of the gods, warrior ....
1 4. When thou angry becomest, a deluge thou makest
15. the doer of sin punish his sin, the doer of evil
punish his evil,
1 6. the just prince let him not be cut off, the faithful
let him not be (destroyed) ;
17. instead of thee making a deluge, may lions in-
crease l and men be reduced ;
1 8. instead of thee making a deluge, may leopards ~
increase and men be reduced ;
19. instead of thee making a deluge, may a famine
happen and the country be destroyed ;
20. instead of thee making a deluge, may pestilence
increase and the country be destroyed !
21. I did not peer into the oracle of the great gods.
22. Adrahasis a dream they sent,3 and the oracle of
the gods he heard.
23. When his judgment was accomplished, Elu went
up to the midst of the ship.
24. He took my hand and raised me up,
1 Rather "come."— S. 2 Rather "hyaenas."— S.
3 Rather "caused to reveal to him." See the note on the
name Xisithrus, p. 38. — S.
48 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Line
25. he caused to raise and to bring my wife to my
side.; . ,
26. he made a bond, and established in a covenant
he blesses us
27. in the presence of Hasisadra and the people,
thus:
28. When Hasisadra, and his wife, and the people to
be like the gods are carried away ;
29. then shall dwell Hasisadra in a remote place at
the mouth of the rivers.
30. They took me and in a remote place at the mouth
of the rivers they seated me.
This extract from one of the cuneiform tablets will
serve to show the light which these documents throw
on the Bible. The Chaldean legend of the Flood was
in existence at least 2,000 years before the Christian
era, and the scenes of the series of legends to which
it belongs are carved on some of the most ancient
Babylonian seals.
The Bible says nothing about the native country
of Noah. The Chaldean legend, line 2, relates that
he belonged to Surippak, a port near the entrance of
the Euphrates into the Persian Gulf. The Chaldean
legend agrees with Genesis vi. in ascribing the Deluge
to the anger of the Deity at the wickedness of the
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 49
world ; and the name Hasisadra, given to Noah in the
Chaldean story, expresses the character of the patri-
arch "reverent and attentive."1
The command to build the ark, in lines 21 to 44,
may be compared with Genesis vi. 14-21. Unfor-
tunately the size of the ark according to the Chaldean
story is lost, so that we cannot compare the numbers
with the statement of Genesis. The order to take
the animals into the ark in line 43 parallels Genesis
vi. 19, 20, and vii. 2, 3. The pouring bitumen over
the inside and outside of the vessel (col. ii. lines 10,
n), is the same as Gen. vi. 14. The utter destruc-
tion of the world is given in col. ii. line 42 to col. iii.
line 26, and Gen. vii. 17-23. With respect to the
duration of the Deluge, there is a remarkable dif-
ference between the Bible and the Chaldean story.
Here we may compare col. iii. lines 21, 34-38, and
Gen. vii. ii, 17, 24, and viii. 3-6, 10, 12-14. The
sending out of the raven is in col. iii. lines 42-44,
and Gen. viii. 7 ; the dove in lines 38, 39, and Gen.
viii. 8-12; but there is added in the Chaldean ac-
count the sending out of a swallow (lines 40, 41). In
the Bible (Gen. viii. 4), the ark is said to have rested
1 Rather " Then intelligently. "- S.
E
50 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
on the mountains of Ararat. This, however, I be-
lieve does not mean the mountain now called Ararat,
but a mountainous country south of this, and near
the present Lake Van. From this region several
mountain-chains run down towards the Persian Gulf,
on the east of the Tigris. In this region, to the east
of Assyria, was the land of Nizir, where the ark rested,
according to the Chaldean account (col. iii. lines
32-36). There must be, however, at present, con-
siderable difference of opinion as to the exact locality
of the descent from the ark, as the limits of these
geographical names are not defined.
The sacrifice of Noah (Gen. viii. 20), and the plea-
sure and blessing of God, reappear in col. iii. lines
46-50 ; and the resolution of the Lord not to destroy
the world again by a flood compares with the state-
ment in the inscription (col. iv. lines 17-20). The
covenant and blessing of Noah (Gen. ix. 1-17) is
given in col. iv. lines 26-29 '> but this includes a sin-
gular difference from the Biblical text. In the book
of Genesis (v. 24) it is related that Enoch was trans-
lated. This remarkable passage is illustrated by col.
iv. lines 28-30, and other places ; but the Chaldean
legend makes it Hasisadra or Noah who is translated
for his piety, and not Enoch.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 51
The whole of the Chaldean account of the Deluge
is worthy of minute comparison with that in the book
of Genesis, and will be found interesting, both in the
points where it agrees with and those where it differs
from the Biblical record. Until a few years back
there was no confirmation of the book of Genesis
earlier than the time of Alexander the Great ; now,
however, a flood of light is thrown on it by the
cuneiform inscriptions, and it is highly probable that
much more of the earlier part of Genesis will be
found in these Chaldean texts. Fragments have been
found of the account of the creation and building of
the tower of Babel, and I have reason to believe that
these are only parts of a series of histories giving full
accounts of these early periods.1
1 A full account of these tablets is given in Mr. Smith's
' ' Chaldean Account of Genesis. " Two versions of the history
of the creation have been discovered, one an older one, which
seems to agree with that adopted by Berosus, and another which
must belong to a much later period, probably the seventh cen-
tury B.C. According to the first version, the'earth was originally
a desert, and was then inhabited by nondescript creatures —
men with the bodies of birds and the faces^ of ravens — until it
was fitted for the abode of the present races of riving beings.
The second version of the account of the creation agrees very
closely with that recorded in the first chapter of Genesis. The
E 2
52 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
The history of no other country is so likely to throw-
light on the earlier parts of the Bible as Babylonia,
for here it is stated that the garden of Eden was
situated, the first home of the human race (Gen. ii.
8, 17). Four rivers are given in this passage; two,
the Euphrates and Tigris, are well known ; the other
two are considered, with great probability, to be two
other streams of the same river system in Babylonia.
Sir Henry Rawlinson has identified Eden with the
region of Gan-duni, or Kar-dunias, in Babylonia, an
world is stated to have been made in six successive days, the
sun, moon, and stars being formed on the fourth day, and the
animals probably on the sixth. The account begins in this
way : —
"At that time the heaven above (was) unnamed,
In the earth beneath a name (was) unrecorded :
Chaos, too (was), unopened around them.
By name the mother Tihamtu (the Deep) (was) the begetter of
them all.
Their waters in one place were not embosomed, and the fruitful
herb (was) uncollected, the marsh plant (was) ungrown.
At that time the gods (the stars) were not made to go ; none of
them by name (were) recorded ; order (was) not among
them.
Then were made the (great) gods; (and these) Lakhmu and
Lalchamu caused to go ; until they were grown '(they
nurtured them).
The gods Assur and Kissar were made (by their hands).
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 53
identification which, although not proved, has many
probabilities in its favour. In the inscriptions of
Tiglath-Pileser II. it is stated that the land of Gan-
dunias was watered by four rivers — the Euphrates, the
Tigris, the Ukni, and the Surappi.
A length of days, a long (time passed, and) the gods Anu (Bel,
and Hea were created), the gods Assur and Kissar (begat
them)."
Connected with these creation tablets are others which describe
the fall of man brought about by the tempter, the great dragon
Tiamat (Tihamtu), or the "Deep," as well as another series,
which recounts the war of Merodach, the sun-god, with Tiamatu
and her allies. This war reminds us of the Biblical passage
(Rev. xii. 7) in which it is said that " there was war in heaven :
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon ; and the
dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not." The frag-
ments relating to the Tower of Babel are unfortunately very
scanty. They confirm the statements of Greek writers, accord-
ing to which the Babylonians related that the gods destroyed
the Tower by winds. The name Bab-el signifies ' ' Gate of God, "
and is a Semitic translation of the older Accadian name of the
place, Ca-dimirra, which may possibly refer to the building of
the Tower. As the Accadian name of the month Tizri (Sep-
tember) was "the month of the holy mound," while the deity
who was connected with the building of the Tower was termed
"the king of the holy mound," it is probable that the event in
question was supposed to have taken place at the autumnal
equinox. — S.
ej4 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
The Babylonians asserted that they had records
written before the Flood, and that the cities of Babel,
or Babylon, Sippara, Larancha, and Surippak were
great cities before the Deluge.1 Certainly, if there
was a civilized race here for 1,000 to 1,500 years
before the Flood, we might expect one day to
find some traces of it ; but as yet no contempo-
rary monuments have been discovered which can
be placed earlier than B.C. 2300, and even this
date may be too early for our oldest known monu-
ments.
The Babylonian traditions relate that after the Flood
the people who were saved returned to Babylonia and
repeopled the country ; and Greek translations have
preserved a few names of monarchs supposed to be-
long to the subsequent epoch ; but nothing whatever
is known of the state of the country or nature of the
government
The cuneiform inscriptions throw a little light on
this obscure interval, but some of the accounts are
overloaded with miraculous and impossible stories,
1 Larancha must be identified with Surippak (or Suripkhu, as
the name may also be read), since Xisuthrus is made a native of
Larancha by Berosus, while he is called a native of Surippak in
the cuneiform Deluge Tablets. — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 55
from which it is difficult to separate the historical
matter.
From these it appears that in early times this part
of the world was divided into many small principali-
ties, when there arose a hero whom I provisionally
call Izdhubar, but who corresponds in my opinion to
the Nimrod of the Bible. The Biblical account of
Nimrod will be found in Gen. x. 8-12, and this
really forms the only certain and authentic notice of
the hero. There is, however, a mass of later tradition
with respect to him which may be partly founded on
the statements of Babylonian history ; some of it,
however, is evidently false.
Izdhubar, whom I identify with Nimrod, is reported
to have been a local Babylonian chief, celebrated for
his prowess ; a mighty hunter and ruler of men, when
some enemy, probably the chief of a neighbouring
race, came down with a force of men and ships and
attacked the city of Erech.
Erech was a large Chaldean city, near the Euphra-
tes, about 120 miles south of Babylon. It is men-
tioned in Genesis as one of the capitals of Nimrod,
and is now represented by the mounds of Warka.
According to the Babylonian tradition, it was then
devoted to the worship of Anu, god of heaven, and
56 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
his wife, or consort, Anatu, and its ruler was a queen
or goddess, named Ishtar, celebrated for her beauty
and for her dissolute character.1
The enemy attacked the city and captured it, hold-
ing it in subjection for three years, when, by the will
of the gods, it was delivered by Izdhubar, who then
made it the chief city of his dominions. Izdhubar,
after gaining Erech, was desirous to secure for his
new court a celebrated sage, named Heabani, who
appears to have been in the power of a monster.
The monster was killed by order of Izdhubar,
and Heabani came to Erech to the court of
Izdhubar.
After the arrival of Heabani, he acted as astrologer
and assistant to Izdhubar, and accompanied him in his
various expeditions. Izdhubar then made war upon a
chief named Humbaba, who ruled in a mountainous
region clothed with pine-trees, and conquered him,
annexing his dominions to Babylonia. Another chief,
named Belesu, was then conquered, and probably
many others whose names have been lost. Accord-
ing to the legend, the dominions of Izdhubar now
reached from the Persian Gulf to the Armenian
1 Ishtar was the Ashtoreth of the Bible, the Astarte of Greek
writers.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 57
mountains, and from the Euphrates to Elam, all the
chiefs within this region being subject to him.
After this the story relates that Ishtar, queen of
Erech, who appears sometimes as human, and some-
times as divine, conceived a passion for Izdhubar, and
offered to marry him.
The character of Ishtar resembled that of the
classical Venus. I think perhaps she may have been
some notorious queen deified by the Babylonians ;
but it is quite possible that she was only a personifica-
tion of human passion. According to the Babylo-
nians, she had been first married to Dumuzi, Tam-
muz, or Adonis, whose tragical death was celebrated
with great ceremony in the East (see Ezek. viii. 14).
Afterwards, Ishtar is represented as leading a de-
praved life until she met Izdhubar and offered to marry
him. Izdhubar refused her offer, and pointed out her
faithless conduct, on which she became enraged, and
mounting to heaven, complained to her father Anu,
who was the ruling divinity of that region.
Anu being invoked by his daughter, at her request
created a composite monster, a winged bull, which
went to attack Izdhubar. The Babylonian monarch
called his chiefs, and with the aid of Heabani they
slew the animal. Ishtar then cursed Izdhubar, who
58 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
had the animal cut up, and dedicated the horns in
one of his temples.
Izdhubar now made a triumphal entry into Erech,
and feasted his chiefs in the hall of his palace, at the
same time making proclamation of his great deeds
round the city. The tablets go on to describe various
other exploits of Izdhubar and Heabani, but we are
told that misfortune came and put an end to this
prosperity. Heabani was killed by some poisonous
animal, and Izdhubar himself was struck with disease.
Up to this point, although the narrative is full of
absurdities and miracles, it possibly had some founda-
tion in fact ; but the subsequent part of the history
must be entirely mythical.
This latter portion of the narrative relates that
Izdubar bitterly mourned over the death of Heabani,
and then set out from the city of Erech to seek Hasis-
adra, the hero of the Flood, who was supposed by
the Babylonians to be living with the gods somewhere
near the Persian Gulf. It is remarkable that the
Babylonian traditions surrounded with interest the
region to the south of the country, where their own
great rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, poured into
the sea. Out of this sea they relate that there arose
Cannes, the composite monster who, according to
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 59
Berosus, taught civilization to the Babylonians. The
building of the ark was placed here ; and this sea was
considered part of the great chaotic deep out of which
the world was formed ; while in this neighbourhood
was the celestial region where the gods and spirits
dwelt.
The description of the journey of Izdhubar is purely
a romance. He visits the region where the giants
control the rising and setting sun ; he passes through
a district of darkness, and emerges into a paradise.
He afterwards visited the sea-coast, came into contact
with a man named Siduri, and a woman named Sabitu,
and later with a woman named Mua, to whom he
relates the history of his connection with Heabani.
About this time he falls in with a boatman named
Urhamsi,1 and they get out a boat and go to seek
Hasisadra.
The purpose of Izdhubar is to ask the sage to cure
him of his illness, and to attain himself, if he can, to
the same immortality as that enjoyed by Hasisadra.
On the invitation of Izdhubar, Hasisadra is supposed
to relate to him the story of the Flood (already given
above) ; and then he instructs Urhamsi how to cure
1 The reading of this name is very doubtful. — S.
Co HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Izdhubar of his illness. Izdhubar after this returns to
Erech, where he once more mourns over the lost
Heabani.
Such is the outline of the story of Izdhubar from the
cuneiform inscriptions. How much historical matter,
if any, underlies the story, I cannot tell ; but certainly
no monuments of his age are known, and no confi-
dence can be put in any of the details in their present
form. The book of Genesis relates that after the Flood
the people "journeyed from the east" to Shinar in
Babylonia ; and this statement of the Bible shows that
the writer of Genesis pointed to the same region as
the inscriptions for the descent from the ark. Nizir
lies to the east of the Euphrates valley, and in jour-
neying from it to Shinar a western course would be
taken. On the other hand, the mountain now called
Ararat lies quite to the north of the Euphrates
valley.
Arrived in Babylonia from Nizir, the Bible describes
the people as building the city of Babylon, and com-
mencing there the erection of a tower, which work
was stopped by Divine intervention. After the return
to Babylonia, there arose a Cushite named Nimrod,
who commenced an empire in the districts of Babel
(Babylon), Erech (modern Warka, south of Babylon),
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 6l
Akkad (near Sippara, north of Babylon),1 and Calneh,
which the Talmud identifies with Nipur or Niffer,
east of Babylon, but which more probably lay near
the Tigris. These four cities appear to have formed
the centres or capitals of four states or districts into
which in old times Babylonia was divided.
I have already suggested the identity of Nimrod
with the Izdhubar of the inscriptions. Although this
is not proved, it is probable ; and there is certainly
no other hero in the range of the Babylonian inscrip-
tions likely to correspond with Nimrod.
The early Christian writers identified Nimrod with
a king in the list of Berosus called Evechous, who is
said to have reigned over Babylonia after the return
of the inhabitants for 2,400 years, and they give after
him the name of a second king Chomosbolus for 2,700
years. According to the history of Berosus, there
reigned after the Deluge, commencing with Evechous,
eighty-six kings, for a period of 34,080 or 33,091 years,
down to the time when the Medes conquered Babylon.
The long average of the reigns in this period proves
1 Accad was rather a district distinct from Shinar (called
Sumer in the inscriptions), and so called from its inhabitants, the
Accadai, or "Highlanders." What Mr. Smith read as Agade,
and identified with the Biblical Accad, is read by other scholars
Agane. — S.
62 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
that we are not dealing here with history, but with
mythical personages, or at best with traditionary
heroes, whose reigns are greatly exaggerated.
It is curious that the narrative of Berosus, after this
period of 34,080 years, commences the historical part
of the work, not with a native dynasty, but with a
foreign conquest, the first dynasty being stated to be
Median,1 and to have consisted of eight kings, who
reigned for 224 years. Beside the name of Izdhubar,
the cuneiform inscriptions supply two or three other
names of kings belonging to the long mythical or
traditionary period after the Flood ; among these are
Etanna, who built a city which may have been the
same as Babel, Tammuz, and Ner. No monuments
or remains of this period are known, but it is probable
that there existed at one time in Babylonia rude and
early monuments which were ascribed to this period ;
for we are told in the Izdhubar legends that that hero
raised stone monuments in memory of his celebrated
journey to Hasisadra.
1 As the Median dynasty of Berosus seems to have derived its
name, not from the Media of classical geography but from the
Accadian word mada, "country," it is possible that the dynasty
may, after all, have been a native one belonging to the "country"
of Babylonia.— S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 63
CHAPTER III.
CHALDEA, OR SOUTH BABYLONIA.
Nipur and Ur — Urukh and his buildings — The religion and
civilization of Ur — Dungi — The kings of Karrak — The rise of
Larsa.
IN early times Babylonia appears to have con-
sisted of several states, which in time became con-
solidated into one. Of these states our monuments
make us first acquainted with one in the south, the
capital of which was Ur. At this time our indica-
tions suggest that the parent city of Ur was Nipur,
now Niffer, a city lying south-west of Babylon, be-
tween the Euphrates and Tigris. On the site of Niffer
there are now the ruins of a considerable city, divided
into two parts by the dry bed of a river, probably in
ancient times a branch of the Euphrates.
Nipur was devoted to the worship of Bel, the great
deity of the Babylonians, who was one of the three
64 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
supreme gods ; and joined with his worship was that
of his consort Belat, or Mylitta, and the god Ninip,
lord of war and hunting, who was called his son.
Of the time when Nipur was the leading city in
this part of Babylonia, we have discovered no monu-
ments; but immediately after, we find, when the
monarchy of Ur arose, it was claimed that the god of
Ur, the moon, was " the eldest son of Bel, the god of
Nipur," the claim carrying with it evidently the asser-
tion that he inherited the rule of his father, and his
city the position of his father's seat, Nipur.
Ur, the city which thus appears to have succeeded
Nipur as capital, is represented by the mounds of
Mugheir, about six miles from the Euphrates on its
western bank, about lat. 31°. It was probably not
far from the old mouth of the Euphrates, but the
river, in company with the Tigris, brings down so
large an amount of material to deposit at its mouth,
that the land rapidly accumulates at the head of the
Persian Gulf, and the present mouth of the Euphrates
is far from the original outlet of the river. The
ruins of Ur are enclosed by a wall, something in the
shape of a pear, and measuring about two miles
round. The space round the town is full of graves
of all ages, showing the long period through which
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 65
the city flourished. This city was probably the Ur
of the Chaldees, mentioned in Genesis xi. 28 as the
birthplace of Abraham.
According to the ordinary chronology of our Bible,
it was in the twentieth century before the Christian
era when Abraham left his Chaldean home to migrate
into Syria ; and it is curious that so far as we can
judge from the inscriptions, it was about this time
that the city of Ur rose into importance.
The city of Ur was devoted to the worship of the
moon-god, called in early times Ur, and the place
itself appears to have been named after that divinity
" the city of Ur." l The rise of Ur caused the worship
of the moon-god to become famous, and to extend
over the whole of the country, the Babylonians ever
after esteeming this divinity in preference to Shamas,
the sun-god, and they always considered the moon
to be masculine, while sometimes the sun was repre-
sented as the son of the moon, and at other times as
a female divinity.
The earliest known ruler of the city of Ur was a
monarch whose name is very uncertain ; it has been
1 This is hardly correct. The title of the moon-god alluded
to in the text is really Hur-ci, "protector of the land," while the
true meaning of Uru or Ur is " the city." — S.
F
66 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
read provisionally by Sir H. Rawlinson as Urukh, and
compared with the Orchamus of Ovid and the Arioch
of Genesis : these identifications are, however, very
uncertain.1 We have no knowledge of the age of
Urukh, but he cannot well be placed later than the
twentieth century B.C., while he may have been
much earlier. The period of Urukh marks the age
when our known contemporary monuments begin ;
there must have been in many places earlier build-
ings, works of art, and inscriptions ; but excavations
in Babylonia have been so limited, that none have
yet been brought to light. It is evident that the age
of Urukh cannot be the starting-point of Babylonian
civilization, because the remains of this period show
the country well advanced in arts and sciences.
The art of building was well known, and had
reached a high state of excellence ; the material in
general consisted of brick, either burnt or dried in
1 It is probable that the true reading of the name is Lig-
Bagas. At all events an inscription has been found on a cylin-
der which calls the king Dungi the son of Lig-Bagas, and this
king Dungi is probably identical with the monarch of that name
to be mentioned presently. The first part of the name in ques-
tion is certainly to be read Lig, " a lion ; " the second part is the
name of the primeval goddess, the mother of the gods, called
Zicum, or Zigara, "heaven," by the Accadians. — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 67
the sun ; but carving in stone was known and prac-
tised, and inscribed stone tablets, and cylindrical
stone seals of this age are in existence showing the
advance of the people in these directions. Writing
with the conventional cuneiform characters was well
known and practised, most of the bricks and stone
objects being inscribed with legends in these cha-
racters. These inscriptions show that the language
of the people was Semitic, although they were using
a syllabary and style of writing which many scholars
have supposed to be derived from a much earlier race.1
The government of the country appears then to
have been in the hands of kings, of whom there were
probably three or four ; and under them were " patesi,"
or viceroys, who ruled in the different districts.
The religion of Babylonia, which was often modi
fied in subsequent ages, was already woven into a
poetic system, in which the gods were conceived of
as begetting each other, holding rank in reference to
each other, engaging in particular offices, and favour-
ing each a particular locality or city.
1 This is not quite correct, as several of the inscriptions of
this age, like the proper names they contain, are not in Semitic,
but in the Accadian, or agglutinative language of ancient
Chaldea,— S.
F 2
68 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
The three great gods were Anu, lord of the heavens ;
Bel, lord of the visible world ; and Hea, lord of the
sea and infernal regions. Anu was originally wor-
shipped at the city of Erech, but in later times the
goddess Ishtar took his place at this seat ; Bel had
his chief seat at Nipur, and Hea at the city of Eridu.
Sin, or the moon-god of the new capital Ur, was called
eldest son of Bel ; Samas, the sun-god ; Nergal, god
of war ; Ninip, a similar divinity ; Vul,1 god of the
atmosphere, with many others, were in great repute ;
while among the female divinities Anatu, goddess of
life and death, who was the female form and comple-
ment of Anu ; Anunit, goddess of Akkad ; 2 Nana
goddess of Erech ; Beltis, wife of Bel ; and Davkina,
consort of Hea, were the most celebrated.
From the engravings on the seals of this period it
appears that long, flowing, embroidered dresses were
used, and ornamental articles of furniture. Urukh,
the earliest known king of Ur, probably began his
reign only in the district round his capital, and after-
wards extended his dominion over most of Babylonia.
We are entirely ignorant of the conflicts and triumphs
which led to the establishment of his empire, and can
1 Rather Rimmon. — S. J Rather Agaric. — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 69
only trace his power by the cities he ruled over, and
the splendid edifices he raised. His reign appears to
have been long and prosperous, and he was a greater
builder than any other king excepting Nebuchad-
nezzar. At the city of Ur he built the temple of the
moon-god, and a ziggurat, or temple-tower, lying in
the northern part of the town. This tower was built
on a mound about twenty feet high. The building,
so far as it has been explored, consists of two stages,
with some traces of a third, or upper stage ; the lower
stage is 198 feet long by 133 feet broad, and the
middle stage 119 feet long by 75 feet broad. The
form of the superstructure and height of the stages
have not been made out, and it is quite likely that
there were originally more stages. The body of the
building consists of sun-dried bricks, with a facing ten
feet thick, composed of burnt bricks, each side being
further strengthened by shallow buttresses of the same
material.
This temple-tower was building during the reign of
Urukh, and was left unfinished at his death.
Numerous other buildings at the city of Ur were
raised by Urukh, and among them a palace called the
house of Rubu-tsiru, or " the supreme prince."
At the city of Larsa, Urukh built the temple of the
70 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
sun, called the house of " Parra," and at the city of
Erech he built the temple of the heavens, which had
originally been dedicated to the god Anu, but was
now devoted to the worship of Ishtar, or Venus. At
Nipur he built a temple to Bel, and a second to the
goddess Belat or Beltis, the consort of Bel. At Zer-
ghul he built a temple to Sar-ili, or the king of
the gods. It is probable that further excavations
would reveal numerous other buildings raised by this
monarch, but our present information is in every way
scanty.
Urukh was succeeded by his son Dungi, who ruled
as far north as Babylon. Dungi finished the tower at
Ur, rebuilt the temple of Erech, and built a temple
at Babylon.
A fine cylindrical seal of the age of Urukh was dis-
covered by Ker Porter, but subsequently lost ; another,,
very similar, of the age of Dungi, is now in the British
Museum.
Several successors of Dungi are known : these kings
have in most cases their names compounded with the
name of the moon-god, but the pronunciation of this
element is uncertain ; the inscriptions render it Ur,1
1 Rather Hur-ci . — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 71
Agu, Aku, Ida, and Sin. The worship of the moon
became very celebrated on account of this deity being
god of the capital city.
The city of Ur in time declined, and another
capital arose, named Nisin, or Karrak : the position
of this place is unknown, but it was probably not far
from Nipur.
There is a difference in character between the in-
scriptions of the kings of Ur and those of Karrak,
which suggests the idea that they belonged to two
different races.
Among the kings of Karrak the two most important
appear to have been Ismi- dagan and Libit-istar. Ismi-
dagan repaired some of the buildings of Urukh. Some
writers have placed him in the nineteenth century
B.C., supposing him to be the same as an Ismi-dagan
who then ruled in Assyria. Libit-istar has also left
some remains. There is in the British Museum a
fragment of a beautiful inscription relating his offer-
ings in the temple of Bel, and a dream which the king
afterwards had.
The city of Karrak, like Ur, declined, and the
ruling power passed to the city of Larsa, on the east
side of the Euphrates, now represented by the ruins
of Senkereh. The kings of Larsa had, however, at
72 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
BRONZE IMAGE OF KING GUDEA.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
73
BLACK MARBLE TORSO OF KING GUDEA,
MUCH MUTILATED.
74 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
first a very limited kingdom, only embracing the
region of Ur and Larsa ; but it gradually grew in im-
portance until it came under the influence of the
rulers of Yamutbal, on the east of the Tigris. The
first of these known was Simti-silhak : his son was
named Kudur-mabuk. Kudur-mabuk gained such
influence that he virtually ruled at Larsa, and placed
his own son, Bim-agu, or Riagu, on the throne there.
Kudur-mabuk and his son then made a joint attack
on Karrak, and capturing the city, put an end to the
power of that capital. Subsequent conquests com-
pleted their dominion, which extended over most of
Babylonia. The Chaldeans considered the fall of
Karrak so important that they commenced to count
from it as an era, and used it for their computations
until the fall of Larsa.
Riagu governed well under the regency of his
father, and built temples, excavated canals, and en-
gaged in various other valuable works. After about
thirty years of peace, the dominions of Riagu were
attacked by Hammurabi,1 another of these kings, and
the south of the country was conquered, never again
to be the chief seat of power.
1 Or Hammuragas.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 75
CHAPTER IV.
UPPER BABYLONIA.
Cities of Upper Babylonia — Agu-kak-rimi — Sargon I. — Naram-
Sin — Hammurabi — Babylon made the capital — The successors
of Hammurabi, and the Kassite dynasty — Intercourse with
Assyria — The Assyrian conquest of Babylonia.
THE region of Upper Babylonia, probably the
Akkad of the inscriptions, included all the country
north of the city of Nipur, or Niffer. This region was
the classical land of cuneiform literature, and from
its terra-cotta libraries came most of the great works
which were copied in Assyria.
The following were the principal towns : —
Babylon, a city said to have been built in very early
times, but which remained for some centuries of
secondary importance. It became at length capital of
the country, a position it held for more than 1,200
years, until the Greek conquest of Asia.
Borsippa, south-west of Babylon, a famous city,
supposed to be the site of the Tower of Confusion.
76
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Sippara, which consisted of two cities, one dedi-
cated to Shamas, the other to Anunit.
THE TEMPLE OF NEBO AT BORSIPPA : BIRS NIMRUD.
Akkad,1 near Sippara, the capital before the rise of
Babylon ; Kisu and Harriskalama, two twin cities
near Babylon.
Cutha, a great city east of Babylon.
1 Rather Agane. — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 77
The early history of Upper Babylonia is unknown.
All we can do respecting it is to notice some of the
names of the monarchs and their works : their dates
and succession have not been discovered ; but it is
probable that they were contemporary with the kings
of Lower Babylonia.
One of these kings was Agu, or Agu-kak-rimi, who
ruled at Babylon, and restored the temple of Bel at
that site. It appears by his inscription that before his
time Babylonia had been worsted in war, and the
images of Merodach and his consort Zirat-banit, the
great gods of Babylon, had been carried captive into
the land of Hani, a region, the position of which is
uncertain, but which probably lay somewhere north-
east of Babylon. Agu sent an officer, and recovered
the images ; but his narrative leaves the impression
that they were ransomed, and that Babylon had at
this time only a subordinate position.
Zabu, another of these kings, is only known as
the builder of the temples of Samas and Anunit at
Sippara.
The most celebrated line of sovereigns in Upper
Babylonia was the race of the kings of Akkad,1 and
1 Rather Ajjane. — S.
78 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
so far as we can judge, they reigned about B.C. 1700
to 1550. The greatest of these sovereigns was named
Sargon, which means " the right " or " true king."
He emerged from a position of obscurity, being hus-
bandman to a water-carrier, and he has left a curious
inscription in which he claims relationship with the
former royal family. He relates that his father's
brother ruled over the country, and that his mother
concealed his birth, and placing him in an ark of reeds
daubed over with bitumen, abandoned him on the
Euphrates. Akki, a water-carrier, going to the river,
is said to have discovered the ark and brought up the
child as his own.1 We are ignorant of the circum-
stances which led to the accession of Sargon, but
another of his inscriptions relates a number of the
prominent events of his reign.
The Elamites, on the east of Babylonia, being
troublesome, he made an expedition against them,
and defeated them; then he attacked the Hittites,
or Syrians, on the Upper Euphrates, and con-
quered these, claiming the rule of the four races
or regions.
Within Babylonia itself were other states with which
1 The inscription which relates this legend can hardly belong
to the age of Sargon, but must be of much later date. — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 79
Sargon now came in contact, and which he subdued,
reducing the whole of the country to his sway.
After this, two expeditions against the Syrians fol-
lowed, in both of which the Babylonian monarch
claims the victory. Then he started on a long march
of conquest to the Mediterranean. He appears to
have met with considerable opposition, and the expe-
dition lasted for three years. During it he reached
the Mediterranean, and planting his standard by its
shores, left there a tablet to commemorate the extent
of his conquests. The next expedition of Sargon was
against Kastu-bila of Kazalla, and after defeating him,
he wasted the country.
Sargon had hitherto been successful, and had im-
posed his yoke on several of his neighbours. He had
now to meet a formidable revolt. We are told that
the elders of all the people revolted against him, and
his people besieged him in his capital Akkad.1 When
his preparations were completed, Sargon sallied out
of his city, and attacked and routed the revolters,
putting an end to this disaffection. Once more
assured at home, Sargon recommenced his foreign
wars, and invading the neighbouring land of Subarti,2
1 Or Agane.
1 Subarti was the highlands of Mesopotamia.
So HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
wasted it with fire and sword, bringing back much
spoil to his capital.
Sargon was a great builder as well as a warrior.
He rebuilt the city of Akkad,1 raised a palace there,
and either built or restored the great temple of
Anunit ; and he founded a city, which he called Dur-
Sargina, on the site of an old Chaldean town. Sargon
probably reigned forty-five years, during which time
he had extended the power of the kingdom of Akkad :7
from Dilmun on the Persian Gulf to the shores of the
Mediterranean ; but on every side lay kingdoms only
under tribute, which revolted as soon as the sceptre
passed into less vigorous hands.
Sargon was succeeded by Naram-Sin, his son, who
conquered the kingdom of Apirak ; and later on, the
land of Maganna, the " ship region." This name
Maganna is also applied to Egypt in later times,3 but
it is more probable that the Maganna of Naram-Sin
was a region on the Persian Gulf.
Naram-Sin completed Bit-ulbar, the temple of Anu-
nit, which was left unfinished at his father's death.
1 Or Agane. * Or Agane.
3 Or rather to the peninsula of Sinai. It is very questionable
whether Mr. Smith was right in interpreting the word as " ship's
region." — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 8 1
After the time of Naram-Sin, the history of the
kingdom of Akkad l is obscure, and nothing is certain
until we come to the reign of Hammurabi.
The reign of Hammurabi appears to mark an era
in Babylonian history. Before his time we hear of
kingdoms at Ur, Larsa, Akkad,2 Babylon, Karrak, and
other places ; and occasionally we find powerful
monarchs, like Urtikh and Sargon, ruling all the
country ; but we have no evidence that the whole of
Babylonia was permanently united into a single
monarchy before the time of Hammurabi. The race
to which Hammurabi belonged is unknown,3 and com-
plete obscurity hangs over his early history. In the
absence of any certain information, it is assumed that
he commenced the Arabian dynasty of Berosus, and
that he reigned near the middle of the sixteenth
century B.C. Hammurabi ruled at Babylon, while
Rim-agu and his father, Kudur-mabuk, possessed the
south and east of the country. Hammurabi made
war against Kudur-mabuk and his son, defeated their
forces and overran the whole of Babylonia, uniting
the country as far as the Persian Gulf into one
monarchy.
1 Or Agane. - Or Agane.
3 He was probably a Cassite from Elam. — S.
G
82 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
The influence and political power of the southern
cities now departed, and henceforth Babylon stands
forth as the sole capital of the country. Hammurabi
took the titles of king of Babylon, king of Sumir and
Akkad, and king of the four races, and fixed his court
at the city of Babylon, where he increased the magni-
ficence or the worship of Merodach, or Bel, the
Belus of the Greeks ; and this deity ever afterwards
held the first position among the gods of the
country.
Excepting a short statement of his conquest of
Rim-agu and his father, and an incidental notice of
his conquest of Surippak, nothing is known of the
wars and triumphs of Hammurabi ; but he has left
several notices of his buildings, showing the resources
of his kingdom, the extent of his dominion, and the
activity of his rule.
At the city of Kisu, on the east of Babylon, now
represented by the mounds of Hymer, Hammurabi
restored the temple called Mite-urris,1 dedicated to-
the god Zamama, and built a ziggurat or tower, the
top of which is said to have reached to heaven. This
monarch also restored the temple called Silim-kalama..
1 Rather Mite-tassak, "the dwelling (?) of the hero.'r
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 83
and built a city on the Tigris, named Kara-samas.
At the city of Zarilab, in Chaldea, he built a temple
to the goddess of the place, and he rebuilt the temple
of Samas at Larsa (now Senkereh), raising there
another of those remarkable ziggurats.
Another great work of Hammurabi was a canal,
called Hammurabi-nuhus-nisi ; he also built a palace
at the city of Kilmad (now Kalwadha), near Baghdad,
and here bronze rings, belonging to some of his
mace-heads, have been discovered. During the reign
of Hammurabi one of the annual floods, of greater
volume than usual, destroyed the city of Abnuna, or
Umliyas. Hammurabi probably reigned about ten
years after he conquered the kingdom of Larsa. He
was succeeded by Samsu-iluna, a monarch of whose
reign little is known. Samsu-iluna excavated a famous
canal, which was afterwards reckoned among the
rivers of Babylonia. This canal he named Samsu-
iluna-nagab-nuhsi. He also repaired the city of Dur-
sargina, and made images overlaid with gold, which
he dedicated in the temple of Saggal, at Babylon, to
Merodach, and in the temple of Parra, at Larsa, to
Samas. After the reign of Samsu-iluna complete
darkness comes over Babylonian history : no records
of the succeeding period have been found, and only
c 2
84 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
a few obscure and doubtful names are known. Among
these we may perhaps count the name of Saga-
saltiyas, a monarch who is only known as the restorer
of the temples of Sippara. There were two cities of
Sippara, one devoted to the worship of Anunit, the
other to the worship of Samas ; the temples at these
places were raised by an ancient king, named Zabu,
and having fallen into decay were rebuilt by Saga-
saltiyas.
During the reign of another of these monarchs,
named Harbi-sipak, there were some controversies
between Assyria and Babylonia. These disputes form
the first intercourse between the two countries known
directly from the inscriptions. Probably a little time
after the reign of Harbi-sipak l connected history be-
gins in Babylonia with the reign of Kara-indas, who
lived about the middle of the fifteenth century B.C.
Kara-indas takes the titles " king of Babylon, king of
Sumir and Akkad, king of Kassu, and king of Karu-
duniyas." From this time the title " king of Kar-
duniyas"was the general title given to Babylonian
sovereigns by the Assyrians in their records. During
1 The name should probably be rather read Murgas-Sipak.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 85
the reign of Kara-indas, Assur-bel-nisi-su ruled over
Assyria, and a treaty was made between the two
powers respecting the boundary-line of these states.
It is very likely that some provinces were in dispute,
and that the limits of each territory varied according
to the power of successive kings. The line of separa-
tion at this time is not known, but it was probably a
little north of the 35th parallel of latitude, between the
Lower Zab, which was considered an Assyrian river,
on the one side, and the river Turnat (modern Adhem),
which was considered to be Babylonian, on the other.
After Kara-indas Burna-buriyas reigned over Baby-
lonia, about B.C. 1425. Burna-buriyas restored some
Babylonian buildings. He continued the peace with
Assyria, and confirmed the treaty which his predeces-
sor had made respecting the boundaries of Babylonia.
Shortly after this, about B.C. 1400, Assur-ubalid, king
of Assyria, to cement the peace between Babylonia
and his own country, gave his daughter Muballidat-
Serua in marriage to the king of Babylon. It is not
known who was then on the Babylonian throne, but
shortly afterwards, about B.C. 1380, Kara-hardas,1 the
1 Rather to be read Kara-Murdas, "servant of the god Muru -
das,' or Bel. — S.'
86 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
fruit of this marriage, and, therefore, the grandson of
the king of Assyria, began to reign in Babylonia. The
tribe of Kassu now appear on the scene as the lead-
ing people in Babylonia. They were first mentioned
in an inscription of Agu-kak-rimi, and again in the
time of Kara-indas ; they were perhaps related to the
tribe of the same name living north of Elam ; but
nothing is known of their previous history or their
advent in Babylonia. The Kassu being dissatisfied
with the Assyrian influence at court, and disliking the
foreign connections of the king, made a revolt against
him, and slew him, setting up in his place a man
named Nazi-bugas, whom the Assyrians assert to have
had no right to the throne, and not to have been
connected with the royal family.
It appears that this revolution was not effected
without opposition, and there was a party favourable
to the restoration of the old line. Bel-nirari, king of
Assyria B.C. 1375, who was son of Assur-ubalid, and
therefore uncle of the murdered king of Babylon,
resolved to avenge his death ; and marching into
Babylonia routed the Kassu and slew Nazi-bugas,
placing the crown on the head of a son of Burna-
buriyas, supposed to be Kur-galzu, or Kuri-galzu.
This interference of Assyria in the affairs of Babylonia
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 87
was the commencement of an unfortunate policy, and
inaugurated a series of wars between the two countries
which lasted two hundred years.
Kuri-galzu, although he attained his throne through
Assyrian aid, does not appear to have trusted his
allies, and he built a strong city, called Dur-kuri-galzu
(now Akkerkuf). near Baghdad, to form a defence in
the northern part of his dominion. He also restored
some of the Chaldean temples, and was considered
one of the most successful Babylonian monarchs.
Kuri-galzu was succeeded by his son Mili-sipak,
about B.C. 1350, and he by his son Merodach-bala-
dan I., about B.C. 1325. In his time war broke out
with Assyria, and Vul-nirari, king of Assyria, ravaged
Upper Babylonia, and defeated the forces of the
Kassu. Assyria now conquered the region of the
Khabur, and came down past the junction of that
river with the Euphrates to the city of Rapiku, which
now formed the border between the two countries.
Merodach-baladan is known only from a fine
boundary-stone in the British Museum, on which a
grant of land is recorded.
Soon after this another war took place between
Assyria and Babylonia, and the king of Assyria de
feared Nazi-murudas, king of Babylonia, at the city
88 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
of Kar-istar-agarsal. No other details of this war are
known ; and from our broken notice it appears to
have been about some question of boundary. A
rectification of the frontier took place in favour of
Assyria, it being now marked close to the river
Turnat.
The name of the Assyrian sovereign who defeated
Nazi-murudas is lost ; but this may have been con-
nected with the conquest of Babylonia by Tugulti-
ninip, king of Assyria. Tugulti-ninip, son of Shal-
maneser, ruled over Assyria probably at the beginning
of the thirteenth century B.C., and we have the bare
record left with respect to him, that he conquered
Babylonia, and annexed it to Assyria, ruling under
the titles of "king of Assyria" "conqueror of Kar-
duniyas," and "king of Sumir and Akkad." This
conquest of Babylonia probably forms an important
era in the history, and may be the starting-point of
the period of 526 years of Assyrian empire, according
to Herodotus and Berosus. The date of the event is
supposed to be B.C. 1273, Dut it must De noticed
that all the dates in this part of the history are ex-
tremely doubtful, being rough calculations on which
Assyrian scholars themselves are not agreed.
The united dominion of Assyria and Babylonia did
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 89
not last long, for the Babylonians did not sit quietly
under the Assyrian yoke. Soon after the death of
Tugulti-ninip, about B.C. 1240, we find the two
nations separate and at war ; the Assyrians led by
Bel-kudur-uzur, and the Babylonians by a king, the
first part only of whose name is preserved — this is
Vul .... The Babylonian sovereign defeated Bel-
kudur-uzur, king of Assyria, and the Assyrian monarch
was slain in the battle ; after which, perhaps by Baby-
lonian influence, Ninip-pal-esar was raised to the
throne of Assyria. The Babylonian monarch made a
second expedition to Assyria soon after, about B.C.
12 20, in order to capture the capital city Assur ; but
his camp was attacked by Ninip-pal-esar, and he was
forced to retreat to Babylonia.
The history of this period is only known to us from
Assyrian sources, no Babylonian texts being known
during the thirteenth century B.C.
90 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
CHAPTER V.
THE ELAMITES IN BABYLONIA.
Elam or Susiana — Invasions of Babylonia by Kudur-nanhundi
and Chedorlaomer — Kudur-Mabuk — Flood at Babylon — Wars
between Babylon and Assyria — Nebuchadnezzar I. and Ma-
ruduk-nadin-ahi — Seven unknown kings.
THE difficulties in the way of writing a history of
Babylonia at present are well shown by our inability
to fix with precision the various Elamite invasions of
that country. Elam, or Susiana, embraced the country
on the east of the river Tigris, including most of the
plain south of the mountains, and a considerable
district in the mountains, which, on this side, bound
the great Euphrates Valley. Elam may be said
roughly to have lain to the east of Babylonia, the
chief seats of the Susian monarchy being on or near
the river Ulai, which may be called the artery from
Elam. The Elamites were of a totally different race
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 91
from the Babylonians ; for, while the Babylonians in
historic times were Semitic, that is, belonged to the
same stock as the Arabs, Jews, and Assyrians, the
Elamites were Turanians, and certainly differed in
language and religion from their western neighbours.
The Elamites were a restless warlike race, ever
ready to take up the sword, and often making attacks
upon Babylonia. The country was probably split up
into varioiis kingdoms, and only at times subject to
a single ruler. The great cities were Shushan, Ma-
daktu, and Hidalu ; but there were many others, the
seats of local chiefs or kings, only sometimes subject
to the power of the king.
The power and influence of Elam are shown by
the numerous notices in the great Babylonian work-
on astrology, where allusions are constantly made to
the wars between Babylonia and the Elamites.
One of the Assyrian monarchs, Assurbanipal (B.C.
668-626), gives a curious relation, to the effect that a
king of Elam, named Kudur-nanhundi, had invaded
Babylonia, and carried away an image of the goddess
Nana, which was worshipped in Babylonia ; and
Assurbanipal appears to state that this event was
1,635 years before his own conquest of Elam. This
would give us the date of about B.C. 2280 for the
92 HISTORY OF BABVLOMA.
raid of Kudur-nanhundi into Babylonia; but some
doubt hangs over the interpretation of the inscription,
and it appears likely that this early date may, after
all, refer to the original making of the image and not
to its captivity. Other mutilated texts appear to
mention a raid of Kudur-nanhundi, king of Elam, in
the twelfth century B.C. ; and another Elamite
monarch of the same name sent an army into Baby-
lonia during the reign of Sennacherib.
There is another detached notice of the Elamites
in the i4th chapter of Genesis, where we are informed
that an Elamite monarch, named Chedorlaomer, that
is, Kudur-lagamar, ruled over Babylonia, having under
him Amraphel, or Amarpul, king of Shinar, Arioch of
Ellasar, and Tidal, or Turgal, king of the Goim (the
Gutium of the inscriptions). Kudur-lagamar is said to
have ruled over Syria, and part at least of Palestine,
for twelve years ; and then, on the revolt of the Cities
of the Plain, he marched into Palestine, in the four-
teenth year, and ravaged a considerable part of the
country. We are further told that, on his return, he
was defeated by Abraham near Damascus, and lost
a considerable portion of his booty. The ordinary
marginal chronology of our Bibles places these events-
about nineteen centuries B.C. ; but this date is by no
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA, 93
means certain, scholars being very divided in opinion
as to the date of Abraham.
There can be no doubt that the i4th chapter of
Genesis has preserved a most valuable fragment of
Babylonian history, and the names and circumstances
of the war so well correspond with what we should
expect in early Babylonian history, that it must be
considered a serious misfortune that we have not yet
been able to fix the exact place and epoch of these
events.1
Just before the time of Hammurabi, the influence
of Elam is again noticed, Simti-silhak and his son
Kudur-mabuk, who attained such power in Babylonia,
belonging to the north-western part of that country.
The Elamite origin of these rulers has been recog-
nized from the time when their names were first
discovered, and there has even been some sus-
picion of a connection between Kudur-mabuk and
the Kudur-lagamar, who was contemporary with
Abraham.
Our next notice of Elamite influence in Babylonia
is from the inscriptions of Esarhaddon, king of
1 It is possible that Arioch is to be identified with Eri-Aku
(as the name of Rim-Agu is also written), the son of Kudur-
mabug. — S.
94 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Assyria and Babylonia B.C. 68 1. He relates that
600 years before his time, or about B.C. 1280, there
was war in Babylonia, and one party broke open the
treasuries of the gods Bel and Nebo, and sent the
gold and silver into Elam. For this it was supposed
the vengeance of the gods fell upon Babylon, and one
of the great canals, called the Arahtu, or Araxes,
broke its banks during a flood, and overwhelmed the
city, sweeping away both temples and houses in its
irruption. This disaster is said to have so ruined the
city, that the inhabitants who escaped went away,
carrying their gods with them, and founded a city on
another site.
Here again comes a difficulty ; such a calamity was
quite likely to happen, but at present it is impossible
to fit the circumstance into any place in contem-
porary Babylonian history.
The vigorous rule of the Babylonian monarch who
conquered and killed Bel-kudur-uzur, king of Assyria,
put a stop for a time to Elamite raids into Babylonia ;
but after him reigned a king named Zamama-zakir-
idina B.C. 1200, under whom they once more com-
menced. The Elamite king made the usual forays
across the border, while, on the other hand, Assur-
dayan, king of Assyria, to revenge the late Babylonian
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 95
invasion of that country, crossed the frontier east of
the Tigris, and wasted the region of the river Turnat
with fire and sword. During the late wars, the terri-
tory near the Lower Zab had been annexed to Baby-
lonia, and the cities here, including Laba, Irriya, and
Agarsalu, were captured by the Assyrians and plun-
dered.
Bel-zakir-uzur, the next king of Babylonia, was un-
fortunate. In his time the Elamites were ruled by
Kudur-nanhundi, who is said to have exceeded all his
ancestors in his violence and injury to Babylonia.
He invaded the country, and swept over it like a
flood, leaving a terrible memory of the misfortunes
he caused.
Again a change happened : a king, named Nabu-
kudur-uzur (Nebuchadnezzar), ascended the Babylo-
nian throne, and soon revived the power of the
country. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Assyria three
times ; of his first expedition no details are known.
In his second raid, he did not actually come into con-
tact with the Assyrians, although Assur-ris-ilim, king
of Assyria, raised a force to oppose him. The Baby-
lonian monarch meeting some difficulties, burned his
baggage, and retreated into his own country. In the
third expedition Nebuchadnezzar met the forces of
96 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Assur-ris-ilim, and the Assyrian account states that the
Babylonians were defeated with some loss ; but there
is some slight doubt over these details.
Nebuchadnezzar invaded Elam in revenge for the
continual plundering expeditions sent out from that
country, and a remarkable circumstance is mentioned
with respect to this time. When the king was on the
expedition, an enormous comet appeared, the tail of
which stretched, like a great reptile, from the north to
the south of the heavens.
The revival of the country under Nebuchadnezzar
was continued under his successor, Maruduk-nadin-
ahi. Maruduk-nadin-ahi invaded South Assyria, and
having worsted Tugulti-pal-esar, or Tiglath-pileser,
king of Assyria, in battle, captured the city of Hekali,
and carried off from there the images of the Assyrian
deities, Vul and Sala.
Tiglath-pileser, a monarch of great courage and
military ability, did not rest under his defeat. The war
was renewed with fury next year, and a battle was
fought near the junction of the Suhana with the
Lower Zab, in South Assyria. Here Maruduk-nadin-
ahi was totally defeated, and the Assyrian monarch,
following up his advantage, ravaged the region of the
river Turnat ; then marching down the Tigris, cap-
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 97
tured Dur-kurigalzu (Akkerkuf ), near Baghdad ; from
thence he marched to Sippara of Shamas (modern
Deyr ?), and after capturing that, to Sippara of Anu-
nit (modern Abu-hubba?). From thence he marched
in triumph to the capital, Babylon, which also fell
into his hands. The whole of Upper Babylonia
was wasted in this expedition; and besides these
places, Upe, or Opis, on the Tigris, and the region
from the river Khabur to Rapiqu were conquered.
In spite of these reverses, the reign of Maruduk-
nadin-ahi was on the whole a flourishing one, and
several inscriptions of this period are known, giving
details of sales of property, showing the prosperity of
the country.
The next Babylonian sovereign, Maruduk-sapik-
zirrat, made peace with Assur-bel-kala, king of Assyria,
about B.C. noo; but after his death a change of
dynasty took place at Babylon, and a new king,
whose name is uncertain (perhaps Maruduk-sadu-ni),
ascended the throne. The Assyrian monarch was
hostile to the new ruler, and made an invasion of
Babylonia, in which he does not appear to have gained
any advantage.
Nothing is now known of Babylonian history for
some time, and in this blank it is probable a fragment
H
98 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
of history should be placed, which gives an account
of the following seven kings.
Simmas-sipak, son of Iriba-Sin, was the governor
or leader of the tribes by the Lake Nedjif. He took
the crown, ruled with ability and success for seventeen
years, and was buried in the cemetery of Sargon.
There is a tablet in the British Museum dated in his
twelfth year.
After him came Hea-mukin-ziru, son of Qutmar,
who set himself up as king, but was not recognized,
and only ruled three months. Kassu-nadin-ahu, son
of Sappai, followed ; he ruled for six years. These
three kings are said to have belonged to the region of
the sea (Nedjif Lake), and to have ruled for twenty-
three years.
After them came Ulbar-surki-idina, son of Bazi,
who reigned for fifteen years. He had been leader of
the prefects during the reign of Maruduk-nadin-ahi,
and is mentioned as a witness on several legal docu-
ments.
To him succeeded his brother, .... -kudur-uzur,
for two years, and then another brother .... -Suqa-
muna, for three months : the reigns of the three
amounting, it is said, to twenty years and three
months. After the rule of the sons of Bazi, the king-
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
99
dom fell into the hands of the Elamites, and a
monarch of this race ruled for six years ; then came
another revolution, the account of which is lost.
CONTRACT TABLET.
H 2
100 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PERIOD OF THE ASSYRIAN WARS.
Obscure kings — Nabu-pal-iclina and Assur-nazir-pal — Disputed
succession — Conquests of Shalmaneser — The Chaldees — Ma-
ruduk-zakir-izkur — Semiramis — The era of Xabonassar — The
Babylonian campaigns of Tiglath-pileser.
A FEW obscure notices are all that remain of the next
period of Babylonian history.
A king named Vul-pal-idina restored the walls of
Nipur, and rebuilt the temple at Kisu.
Vul-zakir-uzur was engaged in controversy with
Assur-narari and Nabu-dayan, kings of Assyria.
Iriba-maruduk is only known from an inscription
on a weight.
Merodach-baladan II., his son, restored the temple
of Erech. Sibir invaded Assyria, and burnt the city
of Adlil. Nabu-zakir-iskun was at war with Assyria,
and during his reign the king of Assyria invaded
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. IOI
Babylonia, capturing several cities along the Tigris ;
among them Baghdad is now mentioned for the first
time.1
With these doubtful notices some two hundred
years pass, until the time of Nabu-pal-idina, who
reigned from about B.C. 880 to 853. During his time
the Assyrian power was reviving under Assur-nazir-
pal, and the Babylonians felt some alarm at the pro-
gress of that conqueror.
When in B.C. 879 Assur-nazir-pal determined to
attack the Suhi or Shuites, and Sadadu, prince of
Shua, sent to Babylon for aid, Nabu-pal-idina resolved
to assist them, in order to check the power of Assyria.
Accordingly a Babylonian force marched to the aid
of the Shuites, who lived along the river Euphrates,
below its junction with the Khabur. The capital
city of the Shuites was named Sum ; it lay on the left
or eastern bank of the Euphrates, and close to the
stream. The Babylonian force, largely composed of
the Kassi, joined the troops of the Shuites, and both
occupied Suru, awaiting the coming of Assur-nazir-
pal. The Assyrian monarch passing along by the
1 This is doubtful. The name of the city may be read Khu-
dadu, as well as Bagdadu. — S.
IO2 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Khabur to its junction with the Euphrates, and then
marching down the Euphrates, arrived at Suru, where
he found the Shuites and Babylonians entrenched.
Assur-nazir-pal at once attacked the place, and after
two days' fighting, carried it by assault Sadudu, with
seventy of his men, threw himself into the Euphrates
to save his life, and escaped the hands of the Assy-
rians. In the city, Assur-nazir-pal captured fifty car-
riages and their men belonging to Nabu-pal-idina, king
of Babylonia, with Zabdan his brother, three thousand
troops, and Bel-pal-idina, the leader of the army. Be-
sides these, numbers of the soldiers were slain, and
much treasure of all descriptions fell into the hands
of the Assyrians.
This disastrous end to his attempt to check the
Assyrian power led Nabu-pal-idina to adopt in future
a policy of non-intervention ; and when next year the
whole region of the Khabur and the land of Shua
revolted against Assyria, the Babylonian monarch did
not interfere.
An agreement was subsequently arrived at, by which
the frontiers of Assyria and Babylonia were definitely
settled, and a treaty followed between Nabu-pal-idina
andShalmaneser,son of Assur-nazir-pal, king of Assyria.
These boundaries were as follows : on the Eu-
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 103
phrates, the city of Rapiqu south of Shua, about
latitude 34° ; on the east of the Tigris, the line pass-
ing along by the cities of Tul-bari; the mounds
of Zabdan and Abtani to the cities of Hirimu and
Harutu ; these places all lying south of the Lower
Zab. These lines of boundary were really the tra-
ditional limits of the two powers ; and although they
had fluctuated from time to time, there had been no
real advance on either side for the past five hundred
years.
About B.C. 853 Nabu-pal-idina died, and was suc-
ceeded by his son Maruduk-zakir-izkur ; but another
claimant for the throne appeared in the person of
Maruduk-bel-usati, a brother of the new king, who
raised a revolt and seized a considerable part of the
country.
Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, who had been on
friendly terms with the father of the two contending
princes, in B.C. 852 marched into Babylonia to settle
the matter. He passed the Lower Zab, and marching
to the region of the river Turnat, he captured Me-
Turnat and Lahiru.
Next year he went again to Babylonia, B.C. 851,
and brought Maruduk-bel-usati to bay in Gananati •
here he defeated him, and the Babylonian prince fled
%
104 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
to Halman -in the mountains east of the Tigris. Here
he was followed by the Assyrians and killed, with his
principal adherents. After the death of Maruduk-
bel-usati, Shalmaneser marched in triumph to Babylon,
Borsippa, and Cutha, and offered high sacrifices on
the altars there to the chief divinities of the country.
Shalmaneser then went to the home of the Chaldees,
the region of the lake of Nedjif, called then the seu
of Marute. This is the second time the Chaldees are
mentioned in the inscriptions, the first notice being
a poetical statement of Assur-nazir-pal, B.C. 879,
who states that the terror of his soldiers swept over
Chaldea.
Of the origin of the Chaldees we know nothing.
Some of the early Babylonian dynasties are called
Chaldean by Berosus, and we sometimes use the word
to designate these early sovereigns; but nothing is
really known of the Chaldees at that period, and they
are not mentioned in any known document before
B.C. 879. They were probably a new race, which
had not long appeared in Babylonia ; and their being
located on the west of Babylonia and in the region of
the Persian Gulf, makes it probable that they were
immigrants from the part of Arabia lying near the
shore of the Persian Gulf. A theory has been pro-
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 105
pounded that they originally came from North As-
syria : this is purely visionary, and is opposed to the
evidence of the inscriptions.1
In the time of Maruduk-zakir-izkur, the Chaldeans
had not possession of Babylonia, but were considered as
outlying tribes, governed by their own kings ; and they
were divided into two principal branches, the Dak-
kuri, lying west of the Euphrates by Nedjif, and the
Ukan or Yakin, lying south-east of these by the Eu-
phrates, extending to the Persian Gulf. Adini, king
of the Dakkuri, and Musallim-maruduk, of the Ukani,
gave presents as tribute to Shalmaneser in the city of
Babylon.
The next monarch known in Babylonia bore the
name Maruduk-baladsu-iqbi, and reigned during the
time of Samsi-Vul, king of Assyria. In his fourth
expedition, about B.C. 820, this Assyrian monarch
marched into Babylonia, and after indulging in the
1 The Chaldeans are called Caldai on the monuments, a word
which cannot be identified with the Casdim of the Old Testa-
ment (translated " Chaldeans," or "Chaldees," in our version).
The word Casdim is perhaps connected with the Assyrian casidu,
' ' conqueror. " The Caldai first obtained possession of Babylonia
under Merodach-Baladan, B.C. 722, and from that time forward
formed so integral a part of the population of the country as to
give their name to it. — S.
106 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
diversion of a lion-hunt on the w^ay, reached the
region of the river Turnat, where he besi eged the city
of Me-Turnat. The people of this city submitted, and
were sent as captives to Assyria ; and then, crossing
the river Turnat, the Assyrian king attacked and de-
stroyed the city of Garsale and two hundred cities
round it. Then, passing Yalman and besieging Di-
hibina, which submitted, but was hardly treated, three
hundred villages round were spoiled ; then, marching
to Datebir, he destroyed two hundred more places,
trampling down the plantations, burning the villages,
killing the men, and carrying away the women and
valuables. Some of the fugitives fled to Kiribti-alani
for shelter ; but the Assyrians followed them, and de-
stroyed the city, killing there five hundred men. The
fugitives who escaped fled to the city of Dur-papsukul,
which was situated in the midst of a stream, and was
very difficult to approach. The Assyrians attacked
and captured the city, and took four hundred and
forty -seven villages, putting to the sword three thou-
sand people, and carrying away about an equal num-
ber. Here the Assyrians sacked a palace of the king
of Babylonia, and carried away rich spoil. Maruduk-
baladsu-iqbi, king of Babylon, in the mean time was
preparing to resist this invasion, and collected a mis-
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 1 07
cellaneous army, partly of Babylonians and partly of
mercenaries, from Chaldea, Elam, Zimri, and Aram ;
these he posted at Ahadaba, near Dur-papsukul. Here
he was attacked by Samsi-Vul, and completely de-
feated ; five thousand of his troops were slain, and
two thousand captured; one hundred chariots, two
hundred carriages, his pavilion, couch, and his camp
also fell into the hands of the victors.
Nothing is known of the fruits of this war, and it is
uncertain if the Assyrians reaped any benefit but
plunder from the expedition.
A little later in the reign of Samsi-Vul, king of
Assyria, war was renewed in Babylon. In B.C. 816,
the Assyrians marched to Zaratu, and next year again
to the region of the Turnat where they took the city
of Dur, and celebrated a festival to the great god
of that place. In B.C. 814 the Assyrians attacked
Ahsana, and in B.C. 813 advanced to Chaldea,
then in a final campaign marched to Babylon in
B.C. 812.
Unfortunately no details are preserved of these
wars, and thus we have no knowledge of the condi-
tion of the country and the events which took place.
It is apparent, however, that the Assyrians were now
gaining ground; and, besides the country open to
I08 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
their inroads, it is probable that they now annexed
the region of the river Turnat on the east of the
Tigris. At any rate, the boundary between the Zab
and Turnat is not mentioned again.
The death of Samsi-Vul took place about this time,
B.C. 812 ; and Vul-nirari III. ascended the throne of
Assyria.
The new king was engaged for several years in
expeditions to Syria and Media, and it was not until
B.C. 796 that he marched against Babylonia. In this
and the next year the town of Dur, which was a fron-
tier town of Babylonia, was the point of attack, no
advance being made into the interior of the country.
A little later, in B.C. 791, an expedition was made
by the Assyrians against a border tribe named the
Ituha ; these, probably, lay above Hit on the Eu-
phrates.
These three slight expeditions of the Assyrians,
which may not have been directed against the Baby-
lonian monarchy, indicate a change of policy, and a
period of peace between Babylonia and Assyria. After
the long wars of the last reign, the leadership of
Assyria had been generally acknowledged, and the
Chaldean kings now gave tribute to Assyria.
The wife of Vul-nirari, king of Assyria, was named
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 1 09
Sammuramat, or Semiramis ; she is supposed by many
to be the celebrated queen of that name mentioned
by Herodotus, who was said to have built the city of
Babylon. Some connection between Assyria and
Babylonia is argued on these grounds; but these
conclusions are very doubtful, and there is not the
slightest proof of any political union between the
two countries during this reign. The name of Semi-
ramis may have belonged to several queens, and the
celebrated woman of that name probably flourished
much earlier.
During the reign of the next Assyrian sovereign,
Shalmaneser III., B.C. 783-773, there were three ex-
peditions to Ituha, in B.C. 783, 782, and 777 ; and in
the following reign, that of Assur-dayan, B.C. 773-755,
there was one to Gananati, B.C. 771, one to Ituha,
B.C. 769, and a second to Gananati, in B.C. 767.
No details of these wars are known, and after the last
expedition complete darkness comes over the history
of Babylonia for twenty years. When the history of
Babylonia recommences in B.C. 747, we arrive at a
period in which the Assyrian annals are far more
complete ; and in the canon of the kings of Babylon
left by Ptolemy we have the names of the Babylonian
rulers from this period down to the end of the kingdom.
110 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
According to the canon of Ptolemy, a ruler named
Nabonassar commenced his first year at Babylon in
B.C. 747, and reigned down to B.C. 734. In the
Assyrian inscriptions no mention is made of Nabo-
nassar, but much light is thrown on the condition of
the country. In the year B.C. 746 a revolt took place
in Calah, which ended in the elevation of Tiglath-
pileser to the Assyrian throne, B.C. 745 ; and the
same year the new king, preparing for a more vigor-
ous policy, marched his army against Babylonia.
It appears from the notices of these campaigns
that there had been a great decline of the central
power in Babylonia, while various tribes of Chaldeans,
Arameans, and Arabs had increased in every direc-
tion. These tribes now spread all over the country,
owning little subjection to Babylon, and encroaching
on every side on the settled population. Among them
are enumerated the Ituha, Rubuha, Havaran, Luhu-
atu, Harilu, Rubbu, Rapiqu, Hiranu, Rabili, Naziru,
Nabateans, Bagdadites, Hindaru, Hagarenes, and
many others. The Chaldeans were now no longer
divided into only two tribes ; beside the Dakkuri and
Yakin, there had arisen the tribes of Silani, Sahala,
and Amukkan ; and another branch had established
themselves at the ancient city of Larak or Larancha.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. Ill
The original native population of the country appears
to have decayed, and the Chaldeans were rapidly
taking their place.
The object of the first campaign of Tiglath-pileser
was to check the power of the various wandering
tribes now overrunning the country. The campaign
was conducted through the region of the river Dijaleh,
on the east of the Tigris; and from thence the Assyrian
monarch crossed the Tigris, and captured Dur-kuri-
galzu and Sippara of Shamas, together with the smaller
cities Kalain, Qurbut, Pahhaz, Kinnipur, and Pazitu.
At the close of the expedition, Tiglath-pileser pos-
sessed all the region of the Tigris, as low down as
Nipur (now Niffer), and appointed military governors
to administer the districts ; but he does not yet appear
to have attacked the west of the country, and all the
region of Babylon and the Euphrates remained inde-
pendent. Numbers of the people conquered in this
expedition were carried away by Tiglath-pileser to
people the new city Kar-Assur, which he now founded
in South Assyria.
The Chaldeans were but little affected by the war in
B.C. 745, as their principal seats lay in the west of the
country, which this time escaped the Assyrian inroads.
According to Ptolemy's Canon, Nabonassar died
112 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
B.C. 734, and was succeeded by Nabius or Nadius,
who may be represented by the Nabu-usabsi of the
Assyrian inscriptions. This is, however, doubtful, as
Nabius probably died B.C. 732, while Nabu-usabsi
is mentioned in the next year, B.C. 731, when Tiglath-
pileser made his second expedition to Babylonia.
In this expedition, B.C. 731, Tiglath-pileser directed
his efforts against the Chaldeans, who had possession
of the Euphrates region, the Arameans and Gambuli
on the Tigris having been subdued in B.C. 745.
Attacked by Tiglath-pileser, the various tribes showed
no union, and made no concerted resistance ; each
kingdom stood on its own defence, and consequently
most of them felt the full force of the Assyrian attack.
The first tribe met by Tiglath-pileser was that of the
Silani. Nabu-usabsi, king of the Silani, shut himself
up in his capital, Sarapanu, where he was attacked by
the Assyrians, who captured the place and destroyed
it. Nabu-usabsi fell into the hands of Tiglath-pileser,
and was impaled in front of his capital. His wife and
children, gods and wealth, with 55,000 people, were
carried captive. The tribe of Sahala was next at-
tacked ; Zakiru of Sahala was captured, and sent in
fetters to Assyria. Tiglath-pileser then proceeded
against Kinziru, king of the tribe of Amukkan, whose
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 113
capital city was named Sapiya. Kinziru retired to
Sapiya, and was besieged there by Tiglath-pileser.
Considerable time had been taken up in the siege and
capture of the other towns, and the season was pro-
bably now far advanced. This was most probably the
reason why Tiglath-pileser, after ravaging the country
and destroying the trees, retired without taking the
city. While the Assyrian monarch was engaged in
the siege of Sapiya, some of the other Chaldean chiefs,
fearing that if he captured Sapiya their turn would
come next, sent and gave tribute to Tiglath-pileser.
These princes were Balasu (Belesys), the chief of the
Dakkuri, Nadini, the chief of Larancha, and Merodach-
baladan, of the tribe of Yakin, chief of the region of the
Euphrates to the Persian Gulf.
Probably about this time Tiglath-pileser formally
proclaimed himself king of Babylonia, and in B.C.
730 and 729 he instituted festivals in the principal
Babylonian cities in honour of the great gods of the
country. These offerings were customary when the
kings of Assyria went to Babylon. They are men-
tioned before in the annals of Shalmaneser II. and
Vul-nirari III. At Babylon, Tiglath-pileser took part
in the ceremony called taking the hand of Bel, which
probably accompanied the accession of a new king.
i
114 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Here he also made sacrifices to Bel, or Merodach,
and his consort Zirat-banit. At Borsippa, he sacri-
ficed to Nebo and his consort Tasmit ; and at Cutha,
to Nergal and his consort Laz. Offerings were also
made in the cities of Kisu, Sippara, Nipur, and Ur.
The canon of Ptolemy gives here the two names of
Chinzirus and Porus, which represent Kinziru and
Pul, their first year in Ptolemy being B.C. 731, and
their last B.C. 727.
Some scholars consider that the name of Porus, or
Pul, here given among the Babylonian kings, repre-
sents Tiglath-pileser, who, about this time, claimed
the title of king of Babylon. At the close of the
reign of Tiglath-pileser at Nineveh, and of Kinziru
and Pul at Babylon, B.C. 7 2 7, the canon of Ptolemy
gives the name of Ilulseus, or Yugseus, at Babylon,
and Shalmaneser at Nineveh. Nothing is known of
the connection between these two, and it is probable
that Shalmaneser was, during all his short reign, too
busily engaged in Palestine to visit Babylonia ; but one
military report to the king of Assyria connects his name
with some events at the city of Dur and the land of
Chaldea. It is believed that the difficulties met with
by Shalmaneser in Syria led to a revolt on a change
of dynasty at Nineveh, Sargon, the new Assyrian
monarch, ascending the throne B.C. 722.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 115
CHAPTER VII.
MERODACH-BALADAN AND THE DESTRUCTION OF
BABYLON.
Merodach-baladan, the Chaldean, conquers Babylon — Defeated
by Sargon — Sargon king of Babylon for five years — Hagisa —
Merodach-baladan retakes Babylon — Battle of Kisu — Bel-
ibni governor of Babylon — Assur-nadin-sum — Sennacherib's
naval expedition to Nagitu — Revolt of Suzub — Elam devas-
tated by the Assyrians — Battle of Khalule — Destruction of
Babylon by Sennacherib.
THE circumstances which happened at Nineveh
at the time of Sargon's accession to the throne
favoured an attempt to snatch Babylonia from the
grasp of Assyria, and this was accomplished by
Merodach-baladan, one of the most remarkable men
in Babylonian history.
He is first heard of in B.C. 731 sending presents
of gold and silver, vases of gold, necklaces of gold
and pearls, precious woods, robes, spices, oxen, and
I 2
Il6 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
sheep as presents to Tiglath-pileser to ward off an
attack of the Assyrian army.1
His territory then lay along the Euphrates, and he
had a powerful castle near the river, called Dur-yakin,
or the fortress of Yakin, which formed his centre of
government. He ruled a people half-traders, half-
pirates, and by his activity extended his power until
the whole region of the Persian Gulf was under
his sway. His next step was to unite all the Chal-
dean tribes, and then, taking advantage of the change
of dynasty at Nineveh, he marched to Babylon, B.C.
722, put an end to the Assyrian dominion, and pro-
claimed himself king of Babylonia.
Sargon, the new king of Assyria, after crushing the
revolt in Palestine, which had impeded his predeces-
sor, marched, B.C. 721, against Babylonia. Merodach-
baladan, unable to meet Sargon alone, made alliance
with Humba-nigas, the king of Elam ; and when
Sargon descended against them, he was met by the
forces of the Susian king, who had crossed the Ela-
mite frontier to the city of Dur, or Duran.
Here a battle took place, and the Assyrians drove
1 Meroclach-baladan is called the son of Yagina or Yakin, the
Yugseus of Ptolemy's Canon. — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 1 17
back the army of Humba-nigas. After which, ad-
vancing into Babylonia, Sargon wasted the lands of
some of the tribes, but did not come up with Mero-
dach-baladan, or reach Babylon itself. Next year
Sargon was forced to march into Syria ; and he was
engaged in Media, Armenia, Asia Minor, and Pales-
tine down to the year B.C. 711, having no opportunity
of renewing his expedition against Babylon.
During this period Merodach-baladan governed
Babylonia with ability, and the country was generally
prosperous ; but expecting an attack from Sargon, he
sent, about B.C. 712, an embassy to Hezekiah, king
of Judah, to make an alliance with him against
Assyria.
The period for this resistance was, however, past.
In B.C. 711, Sargon came down on Palestine, and
crushed the revolt there, and then prepared to attack
Merodach-baladan.
Failing in his projected alliance with Judah, Mero-
dach-baladan sent to Sutur-nanhundi, or Sutruk-
nanhundi, king of Elam, and induced him to join in
a league against Assyria.
With respect to the origin of his expedition, Sargon
tells us that Merodach-baladan, son of Yakin, king
of Chaldea, " who, within the sweep of the sea of
Il8 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
the rising sun, had his country on the sea and to the
flood trusted, the worship and pledges of the great
gods forsook, and ceased his presents. Humba-
nigas, the Elamite, to his aid he had brought, and all
the Suti, the people of the desert, he had made hostile ;
he had prepared war, and the countries of Sumir
and Akkad for twelve years against the will of
the gods, and Babylon, the city of Bel, he had pos-
sessed and controlled."
Both parties in the coming struggle appealed to the
same deities, and both accused the other of impiety,
while the Babylonian priests stood ready to bless
either if victorious.
Merodach-baladan, aware of the coming attack,
was not idle. He repaired the fortifications, and col-
lected his army, calling, among others, the tribe of
Gambul to garrison the city of Dur-athara, which lay
near the river Surappi, on the road of Sargon to
Babylon; and he strengthened the fortifications, in
the hope that the place would stop the advance of
Sargon. To the help of the Gambulai he threw into
the city 600 horses and 4,000 troops, and to increase
the defence, they pierced the banks of the Surappi,
and flooded the region round the city. These pre-
cautions were of no avail. Sargon invested the city,
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 1 19
and captured it in the evening, taking 18,490 pri-
soners, with horses, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep.
A considerable body of people, under eight chiefs,
who had sheltered themselves in the marshes and
reed-beds beside the river Ukni, hearing of the capture
of the city, were terrified, and sent a present of oxen
and sheep to Sargon as a token of submission. The
Assyrian monarch rebuilt the city, calling it Dur-Nabu.
He appointed a general in command, and directed
the payment of an annual tribute of i talent 30 manas
of silver, a quantity of grain, one ox, and one sheep.
Several other places fell, among them Qarinani,
the city of Nabu-uzalla, chief of the Gambulai. Three
other tribes, the Hindaru, the Yatbur, and the Puqudu
(the Pekod of Jeremiah 1. 21), fled in the night, and
taking to the water of the river Ukni, made the canal
of Umliyas their refuge. Sargon shut them in by build-
ing two forts of reeds and mud, and they were starved
into a surrender. Yanuqu of Zame, Nabu-uzalla of
Aburi, Izmasunu and Haukanu of Nuhani, and Sahali
of Ibuli, five chiefs of the Pekod, — Abhata, chief of the
Ruhua and Bel-ninu, Samiha, Saphar, and Rapiha,
chiefs of the Hindaru, were the leaders who sub-
mitted, and their tribute was paid in oxen and sheepr
delivered in the city of Athara. Fourteen of the
120 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
principal cities by the river Ukni were now ravaged,
and Sargon then attacked Samhana and Dur-sar, two
fortresses of Sutur-nanhundi, king of Elam, which
were situated in the district of Yatbur, on the east of
the Tigris. Singusibu, the Elamite commander, and
7,520 of the Elamite troops, 12,062 people, with
horses, camels, asses, mules, and much spoil, were
captured. Up to this time the region of Lahiru had
belonged to Elam ; now Sargon captured it, and
added it to the Assyrian borders ; then passing the
Elamite cities of Tul-humba, Bube, and Hamanu, in
the district of Rasi, he attacked Bit-imbi, and entered
it. During this raid into his territories, Sutur-nan-
hundi, king of Elam, retired with his army to the
mountains, fearing to meet the large and well-equipped
army brought into his country by Sargon. The mo-
tive of the Assyrian monarch was to drive back the
Susians,and prevent them from giving aid to Merodach-
baladan ; and for this purpose he garrisoned the cities
he had captured from the Elamites in Yatbur, and
held them to protect his rear, while he marched west-
ward across the Tigris to attack Merodach-baladan
Passing over the intermediate country, he crossed to
the west of the Euphrates, and took up his head-
quarters at Dur-ladini, in the district inhabited by the
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 121
tribe of Dakkuri. Merodach-baladan, who was then
at Babylon, was at once alarmed, and sent rich pre-
sents, a couch and a throne of silver, a table, a plate
and goblet, all of silver, and a necklace, to Sutur-
nanhundi, king of Elam, with urgent requests that he
would come to his aid. The Susian monarch, how-
ever, had just felt the weight of the Assyrian sword ;
his borders were ravaged, his frontier forts captured
and garrisoned by the troops of Sargon, and he him-
self had retired to the mountainous district in the east
of his dominions for fear of the Assyrians. Under
these circumstances, Sutur-nanhundi sent to say that
the Assyrian forces blocked his way, and he could not
come.
Merodach-baladan now found himself alone, and
being a foreigner at Babylon, could not depend upon
the people in a siege ; he therefore retired at once
to the city of Iqbi-Bel, preparatory to a further retreat
to Dur-yakin. The judgment of Merodach-baladan
was confirmed by the event ; for no sooner had he
left the city than the priests and people of Babylon
and Borsippa sent an embassy, headed by some of
the leading men of the city, to invite Sargon to enter.
The Assyrian king then entered Babylon in triumph,
and set to work at once to repair the canal which ran
122 HISTORY OK BABYLONIA.
from Babylon to Borsippa, and to offer rich sacrifices
to the gods of the country. During the advance of
the army of Sargon, a tribe named the Hamaran,
took advantage of the confusion to plunder. Throw-
ing themselves into the city of Sippara, they issued
from it from time to time to ravage the lands of
the Babylonians.
Sargon, as soon as he took possession of Babylon,
sent a force against them, and besieged the city of
Sippara, which he captured, making a severe example
of the whole tribe. These operations concluded the
campaign, and Sargon prepared to drive Merodach-
baladan out of Chaldea. Next year, B.C. 709, in
the month lyyar, the Assyrian monarch started from
Babylon and marched towards Iqbi-Bel.
Meanwhile, Merodach-baladan had retreated from
Iqbi-Bel, carrying his gods with him, and entering the
city of Dur-yakin, near the Euphrates, he called toge-
ther the tribes who were still faithful to him, and the
people of Ur, Erech, Eridu, Larsa, Zarilab, Kisik, and
Nimit-laguda, the cities in the south, which still ac-
knowledged his authority ; and massing a large army,
placed Dur-yakin in a state of defence. With him
were the remnants of the tribes which Sargon had
conquered — the Gambulai, .Pekod, Damun, Ruhua,
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 123
and Hindaru — and he set his people to work to dig a
wide trench, 200 cubits wide (340 feet) and i-| gurs
(30 feet) deep, round the city of Dur-yakin ; then
opening a channel to the Euphrates, he flooded this
ditch, and breaking down the bridges which he had
built across it, prepared to resist a siege. Sargon
passed his troops across the ditch, and attacked the
Chaldeans, who were caught in a net, and defeated
with great slaughter. The royal pavilion of Merodach-
baladan, his couch of gold, throne of gold, chair of
gold, sceptre of gold, chariot of silver, covered car-
riage of gold, with his other goods, and all his camp,
fell into the hands of the Assyrians, while the Chal-
dean monarch, impelled by fear, fled into his citadel
with the remnant of his forces. This battle had
taken place in the space between the ditch and the
city walls ; and Sargon now invested the city, which
he soon after stormed and captured. Merodach-
baladan now submitted, and laid down his sceptre
before Sargon, who carried him into captivity, together
with his wife, his children, and his treasures.
Thus the whole of Babylonia fell into the hands of
Sargon, who set to work to reverse the policy of Me-
rodach-baladan. He expelled the military desert-
tribes whom the Chaldean had settled in the Baby-
124 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Ionian cities, and everywhere made friends with the
priesthood by restoring the rites and offerings of the
various gods. Sargon also for some time held his
court at Babylon ; and while here there came two
embassies from opposite sides of the empire to ac-
knowledge the power of the Assyrian monarch. One
of these was from Uperi, king of Nituk or Dilmun, a
state which is said to have lain thirty kaspu, or about
210 miles, in the sea on the east, being reached
through the Persian Gulf. Dilmun has not been iden-
tified, and if it were not for the statement of distance,
it would be likely to represent the region of the Indus,
for it was not the name of a small, obscure place, but
of a region known from remote times, and always
spoken of as the eastern boundary on the sea,1
The second embassy came from the West, from the
seven kings of Yaha, a district of Yatnan, a place said
to be seven days' sail in the Mediterranean. This
embassy is usually supposed to have come from
Cyprus; but this island appears too close to the
coast to require such a voyage.
Sargon reigned at Babylon after his conquest of
Merodach-baladan for five years, and died B.C. 705.
1 Dilmun, or rather Dilvun, is probably the modern Bunder-
Dellim.— S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 1 25
During the reign of Sargon,some troubles took place
from the leaning of the Chaldean tribes to the cause
of Merodach-baladan. Partial revolts happened ; but
these were easily repressed, and Sargon remained on
the throne until his death.
On the death of Sargon, his son Sennacherib be-
came king of Assyria, on the i2th day of Ab, B.C.
705 ; and it is supposed that a brother of the king
was made ruler at Babylon. There is, however, as
usual, considerable obscurity as to the history and
succession here. It appears from the Chronicle of
Eusebius, that after the death of the brother of Sen-
nacherib the Babylonians raised to the throne Hagisa,
or Akises ; and Merodach-baladan, escaping from the
Assyrians, murdered the new ruler after a reign of
one month, and again mounted the Babylonian throne,
B.C. 704. This defection of Babylon called up Sen-
nacherib, the new Assyrian monarch, and he assembled
his army to march to Babylon.
The Assyrians marched into the country, and
crossed the Tigris in the direction of the capital,
meeting little opposition on their way until they came
to Kisu (Hymer), about nine miles east of Babylon,
where Merodach-baladan had drawn up his forces.
Here a battle took place, and the Babylonian forces
126 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
were routed, the Chaldean monarch taking refuge in
flight. It is probable that Babylon at this time was
not prepared to stand a siege, and therefore Merodach-
baladan at once hastened to the south to take refuge
in the reeds and swamps which in all ages have formed
the shelter of political refugees. Here in the district
of Guzuman he hid himself safely from his foes, while
the Assyrians searched the reeds and marshes in vain
to find him.
Immediately after the battle of Kisu. Sennacherib
entered Babylon and plundered the palace, carrying
away everything. A like fate awaited all the other
cities within reach. According to one record, 89
cities and 820 villages were destroyed, while an-
other gives 76 cities and 420 villages. Among these few
names remain ; but Sarrapanu and Larancha are men-
tioned, and Erech (Warka), Nipur (Niffer), Kisu (Hy-
mer), Harris-kalama l (near Hymer), and Cutha (Ibra-
him) are given as seats of the Chaldeans. After the
country within reach of the Assyrian army had been
conquered and ravaged, Sennacherib set to work
to reconstruct the government. With him he had
a young man named Bel-ibni, son of a Babylonian
1 Rather Kharsak-kalama, "the mountain of the world," so
called from the name of its principal temple.— S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 127
officer. He had grown up in the palace of the king
of Assyria, and was now raised by Sennacherib to the
throne of Babylonia, his appointment dating B.C. 703.
It appears that a further campaign was necessary in
this year to chastise the various nomad tribes wan-
dering over the country. It is said that at the close
of these operations 208,000 people, with multitudes
of flocks and herds, were carried captive to Assyria.
Nabu-bel-zakri, governor of Hararti, was the only ruler
who voluntarily submitted ; and he, probably fearing
a visit from the Assyrian army, sent rich presents to
Sennacherib. The work of spoiling being finished,
the Assyrian monarch rebuilt the city of Hirimmu,
which he had destroyed, and appointed a tribute from
it of one ox, ten sheep, ten homers of wine, and twenty
homers of first-fruits, as an offering to the Assyrian
gods.
Sennacherib returned to Assyria in B.C. 703, leaving
the government in the hands of Bel-ibni, and appoint-
ing a force to watch for Merodach-baladan. The
Chaldean prince, finding the Assyrian garrisons too
strong for him, and despairing of regaining his Baby-
lonian throne, called together his adherents, and col-
lecting the images of his gods, resolved to lead a
Chaldean colony to a new district on the Persian
128 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Gulf. Taking ship with his adherents, he abandoned
the country where he had struggled for thirty years
against the Assyrian power, and carried his people
down the Persian Gulf to the district of Nagitu, on
the Asiatic shore, within the territory of Elam. Here,
an exile from his native land, Merodach-baladan
died ; but he left several sons, destined to continue
their father's work and continue his opposition to
Assyria. After the departure of Merodach-baladan
to Nagitu, another Chaldean chief arose, Suzub, son
of Gahul, who collected a band of followers at the
city of Bittut, in the marsh district near the mouth of
the river Euphrates, and defied the power of the
Assyrians. To punish him, Sennacherib organized a
second expedition to Chaldea, in B.C. 700, and de-
feated Suzub, who escaped and hid himself. Then
turning to Bit-yakin, the district of Merodach-baladan,
the Assyrian army ravaged the place, carrying captive
those who had not emigrated with Merodach-bala-
dan. The rule of Bel-ibni was probably unsatisfactory
to Sennacherib, for the Assyrian monarch, at the close
of the expedition, gave the government of the country
to his own eldest son, Assur-nadin-sum, who com-
menced his reign B.C. 700. The new Chaldean esta-
blishment at Nagitu, on the Persian Gulf, was beyond
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. I 29
the reach of the Assyrians, and independent of their
influence, while it formed a fresh focus of Chaldean
independence. Sennacherib, therefore, formed the
design of subjugating this region ; and unable to reach
it by land through the hostile country of Elam, he
directed a fleet to be prepared, with a view to attack
the emigrants from the sea. Two stations were formed,
one at Nineveh, on the Tigris, the other at Tul-barsip
(Biradjik),1 on the Euphrates ; and Tyrian workmen
were employed to build there large vessels fit for a
sea voyage, and crews were selected of Tyrians, Zi-
donians, and Greeks. The Tigris being in places
shallow on account of the dams and rapids, the ves-
sels built at Nineveh were floated empty down to the
city of Upe (Opis), and there they were passed into a
navigable canal, called the Arahtu or Araxes, and were
drawn through this to the river Euphrates, in the Chal-
dean region ; here the troops and stores were waiting,
and the vessels were loaded. The fleet now dropped
down the river to Bab-salimiti, on the right bank at
the mouth of the Euphrates, where Sennacherib went
on shore and pitched his camp. The troops had
1 Tul-barsip is rather opposite Carchemish, the modern Jera-
blus. It is the Barsampse of Ptolemy. Biradjik represents the
" Birtu of the Arameans" of the Assyrian inscriptions. — S.
K
130 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
been five days descending the river, until they reached
the shore of the Persian Gulf at Bab-salimiti. At
the place where the river issued into the sea, Senna-
cherib made a great festival in honour of Hea, the
presiding deity of the ocean. Images of fishes and
vessels, made of gold, were carried out to sea and
dropped with great ceremony into the ocean by the
Assyrian monarch, while victims and libations were
offered to Hea, the Assyrian Neptune. It being sup-
posed that the gods were propitiated, the expedition
sailed out to sea and made for the Persian coast,
where the district of Nagitu was situated. Here they
came to the mouth of the river Ulai, which formed
the artery of Nagitu, and in the vicinity of which the
cities colonized by the Chaldeans were situated. It
is quite evident that since the time of Sennacherib
considerable changes have taken place in the geo-
graphy of this region ; the soil rapidly accumulates
at the head of the Persian Gulf, and now the mouth
of the Ulai no longer opens into the sea, but dis-
charges itself into the Euphrates.
On the arrival of the Assyrian fleet at the mouth of
the Ulai, they found the Chaldeans gathered to re-
ceive them. The colonists inhabited the cities of
Nagitu and Nagitu-dihibin, and they called to their
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 131
assistance the people of Hilmu, Bellatu, and Hupa-
panu drawing up their forces on the flat fronting the
Ulai. The Assyrian troops were disembarked, and
attacked with fury the Chaldeans and their allies,
routing them and pursuing them to their cities, which
they captured and spoiled. The people were cap-
tured in large numbers, and with their goods and
cattle forced into the Assyrian ships and sent over to
the city of Bab-salimiti to Sennacherib.
While this expedition was away at the Persian Gulf,
Suzub, who had escaped during the former war, raised
a force in the rear of Sennacherib, and the king of
Elam, who had hitherto only given secret help to the
Babylonians, now marched his army to Babylon, and
with them came numbers of the Chaldean emigrants
returning to their country. The Elamite and Chaldean
forces captured Babylon, and proclaimed Suzub king ;
but reinforcements being sent to the Assyrian army,
they turned and defeated the rebels, capturing Suzub,
who was sent bound to Nineveh.
At this time one of the parties fell upon the city of
Erech, and plundered it, carrying away the images of
the gods ; but the notice of this event is so ambigu-
ous, that it is uncertain if it was the Assyrian or the
Elamite army which plundered the temples. The
K 2
132 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
direct interference of the Elamites at Babylon during
these operations, and their constant hostility to
Assyria, now led to a war between the two countries.
Sennacherib, in resolving to attack the Elamites, was
also influenced by a desire to recover a small portion
of Assyrian territory near Duran, which had been
attacked and captured by the Elamites just before the
close of the reign of Sargon. Here the Elamites had
taken the two cities of Bit-hairi and Raza, and this
loss had not been recovered. About B.C. 697, the
Assyrian monarch set out with a large army to make
war with Elam, and after recovering the lost district
he went on to attack the Elamite cities, which he cap-
tured and burned one after another. Thirty-four
larger cities, and numerous smaller villages, were
destroyed, and the Assyrian records relate that the
smoke of these conflagrations rose like a cloud, and
obscured the face of the heavens.
During this destruction of his cities, Kudur-nan-
hundi, the Elamite king, did not dare to meet Senna-
cherib in the field ; but fearing for his own safely,
he caused his people to retire into the other cities,
and he himself left Madaktu, his capital, and fled
into the mountains to Hidalu. Everything now
seemed at the mercy of the Assyrian king, who was
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 133
carrying fire and sword through the country, and
sparing nothing in his progress. The sudden setting
in of winter rendered the roads impassable, and by
stopping the Assyrian monarch's intended march
against the capital, Madaktu, put an end to this war
of destruction, which had been carried on with a
barbarity seldom seen even then.
Brought to a halt by the snow and rain, Senna-
cherib reluctantly turned and retraced his steps to
Assyria ; but the Elamites did not easily forget his
invasion ; within three months their king was dead,
and they raised to the throne his brother Umman-
minan, a man of a more energetic disposition.
Meanwhile, Suzub had escaped from confinement,
and meeting with numerous other fugitives, all elud-
ing the Assyrian governors, he again raised a revolt,
and took to the marshes for protection. Here he was
pursued by the Assyrians, and so hunted, that he fled
into Elam to Umman-minan, the king of that country.
Elam at once became a centre for the Chaldean
refugees ; and Suzub, collecting a number of these,
came to Babylon, where the people again opened
their gates to him, and by general consent the
Assyrians were expelled from the country, and Suzub
was once more raised to the throne.
134 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Aware of his inability to hold the throne alone,
Suzub broke open the sacred treasures of Bel at
Babylon, Nebo at Borsippa, and Nergal at Cutha,
and sent the gold and silver as a present to Umman-
minan, king of Elam, saying : " Gather thy army,
collect thy camp, to Babylon come and strengthen
our hands, for a master of war art thou." Umman-
minan and his people were equally ready to make war
with Assyria, and to avenge the ravages of the Assyrian
army during Sennacherib's late campaign, and call-
ing to his standard all the tribes subject to Elam, he
took the road to Babylon. An immense host now
gathered at this city, consisting of Elamites, Persians,
people of Anzan, Pasiru, Ellipi, Yazan, Lagapri, Har-
zunu, Dummuq, Sulai, Samuna, Adini, Amukkan,
Silan, Sahala, Larancha, Lahiru, Pekod, Gambul,
and other tribes. Umman-minan and Suzub marched
out from Babylon, about B.C. 696, feeling strong
enough to meet Sennacherib in the open field. They
therefore posted their troops at Halule, on the Tigris,
to check the Assyrian monarch before he overran the
heart of the country.
Sennacherib advanced to Halule eager to meet the
rebels, and joined battle with them, utterly routing
their troops. The chiefs of the Elamites and Baby-
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 135
lonians had gone out to the battle richly adorned,
with arms inlaid with gold, bracelets and rings of
gold, riding in chariots plated with silver ; and most
of these trappings fell into the hands of the Assy-
rians. The Babylonian army gathered at Halule
must have been very numerous, for the Assyrians
count the slain at the incredible number of 150,000
men. We are informed, however, that the pursuit
and slaughter lasted for four hours after sunset. A
multitude of prisoners and heaps of spoil remained
with the victors, several of the chiefs, including
Nabu-zakir-iskun a son of Merodach-Baladan, falling
into the hands of Sennacherib.
The disastrous battle of Halule closed for that year
operations in Babylonia. There was a long march
to Babylon; the season was probably late, and the
Assyrian army crippled, and encumbered with spoil.
These reasons probably determined the close of the
campaign; but next year Sennacherib once more
marched out, resolved this time to make an ex-
ample of Babylon. This was about B.C. 695. Suzub
and Umman-minan, after the battle of Halule, had
escaped to their respective countries, and when Sen-
nacherib again invaded Babylonia there was no at-
tempt at opposition in the open field ; he advanced
136 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
at once to Babylon, and appeared before the city,
which was ill-prepared to resist him. The fortifica-
tions were stormed and captured, and the whole city
given up to spoil. Suzub, with part of his family, fell
into the hands of Sennacherib, who sent them to As-
syria j the treasures of the city were plundered by the
soldiers, the images of the gods were brought out of
the temples and broken up, the houses were pulled
down and burned, the walls were levelled, the tem-
ples overturned, and the towers thrown down; the
city was levelled, as far as the fury of the Assyrian
monarch could do it, and the great canal, called
Araxes, was filled up with the ruins.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 137
CHAPTER VIII.
THE RULE OF THE ASSYRIANS.
The successors of Assur-nadin-sum — Nabu-zir-napisti-esir —
Babylon rebuilt by Esarhaddon — Succeeded by his son Saul-
mugina — Wars with Elam — Revolt of Babylonia — Crushed
by Assur-bani-pal — Saul-mugina perishes in the flames of his
palace — Nabopolassar appointed governor — He marries the-
daughter of Cyaxares of Media — The fall of Nineveh.
VERY little is known of the history of Babylonia for
some years after its destruction by Sennacherib.
Suzub again escaped from captivity, and opposed
Sennacherib; but he was ultimately killed by a fall
from his horse. Assur-nadin-sum, son of Sennacherib,
who had reigned whenever the Assyrians held Babylon,
died B.C. 694, and, according to Ptolemy, was suc-
ceeded by Rigebel; after whom came Mesesi-mar-
dochus, B.C. 693 to 689. From this time, not even the
names of the Babylonian rulers appear, and the city
remained in obscurity until the reign of Esarhaddon.
138 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
During this time, a son of Merodach-baladan,
named Nabu-zir-napisti-esir, took possession of his
father's original territory near the Persian Gulf; and
after strengthening himself there, he aspired to the
dominion of the whole of Babylonia. After the
murder of Sennacherib his sons disputed the crown,
and taking advantage of the confusion, the Chaldean
prince, in B.C. 681, marched against the city of Ur
(Mugheir), then governed by Ningal-idina, who was
faithful to the Assyrian empire. Having failed to
separate the governor of Ur from the interest of the
Assyrians, he besieged the city, and when Esarhaddon,
having gained a decisive victory over his brothers, was
proclaimed king at Nineveh, Nabu-zir-napisti-esir disre-
garded his accession, and continued his hostilities
against Assyria. Esarhaddon, hearing of this, ordered
the Assyrian generals who were stationed in Baby-
lonia to march against him; and unable to meet
their forces, the Chaldean prince fled into Elam, the
old refuge of his father. The reign of Esarhaddon
had opened with great promise, and he had assumed
the crowns of both Assyria and Babylonia. The
Elamites now appeared disinclined to quarrel with
him, and did not take up the cause of the son of their
old ally, Merodach-baladan. Nabu-zir-napisti-esir
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 139
thus found Elam an insecure refuge, and soon after
his arrival there was treacherously murdered. His
brother, Nahid-Maruduk, who had followed his for-
tunes and shared his flight to Elam, when he saw
the death of Nabu-zir-napisti-esir, alarmed for his
own safety, fled out of the country, and threw himself
upon the mercy of Esarhaddon. The Assyrian mo-
narch received him favourably, accepting his homage,
and appointing him to the government of the district
of the sea-coast, which his brother had forfeited by
rebellion.
As soon as he had settled his affairs in Assyria,
Esarhaddon came in person to Babylon (January,
B.C. 680), and set to work to restore the city, which
had been ruined by the late wars. He rebuilt the
great temples and towers, restored the fortifications,
and brought back the captive images of the gods.
Under the fostering care of Esarhaddon, Babylon
soon again became a great city, and the rival of Nine-
veh. During the depression of Babylon, in the latter
part of the reign of Sennacherib, the chief of the
Chaldean tribe of Dakkuri, whose home was on the
edge of the desert west of Babylon, had encroached
upon the grounds of the people of Babylon and Bor-
sippa. These people Esarhaddon checked, and put
140 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
a stop to their inroads. He seized Samas-ibni, their
king, and burned him, as a punishment, and set up
in his place a chief named Nabu-usallim. Soon after
this the new chief sent an urgent despatch to Esar-
haddon, because the marsh tribes had gathered in
Bit-amukkan, and endeavoured to renew the depre-
dations which had been carried on in the time of
Samas-ibni. He prays the king to send to Sadu,
governor of Amukkan, and check these raids. Sub-
sequently Esarhaddon was informed that Nabu-usal-
lim, whom he had raised to office, was endeavouring to
purchase horses; and the governor of Babylon, for
Esarhaddon, stated that the governor of the Dakkuri
desired to raise a force to attack the Assyrian army,
and renew the raids of Samas-ibni, in consequence of
which he, as viceroy of the king of Assyria, forbade
the sales in the name of Esarhaddon.
In the same letter the governor of Babylon informs
Esarhaddon of the arrival of Bel-basa, son of Bunanu,
at Babylon and Borsippa, from which cities he went
to the land of the tribe of Dakkuri. Bel-basa was
chief of the tribe of Gambul, which lived in the
marshes by the Tigris, close to the Elamite frontier.
He was induced to submit to Esarhaddon ; and in
consideration of his alliance, Esarhaddon assisted
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 14!
him to build the city of Sapi-Bel, in the marshes,
which he was to hold for Esarhaddon as a frontier
fortress against the Elamites.
Some time later, Umman-aldas being on the throne
of Elam, his two brothers, Urtaki and Te-umman,
proposed to him that he should break the peace with
Esarhaddon, and make an expedition into Chaldea
against the king of Assyria. This he refused to do, and
they then murdered him, setting up in his place
Urtaki, his next brother. The new king was wiser on
his accession than to follow his own former council,
and made friendly advances to Esarhaddon. Te-
umman, the youngest brother, who appears to have
been a determined foe of Assyria, was not satisfied
with this policy, and sent an agent of his own, named
Zineni, into Chaldea, to endeavour to raise a revolt
in favour of Nabu-diim, a son of the late Chaldean
ruler. The people were, however, satisfied with their
government, and returned answer that Nahid-Maruduk
was their lord, and that they were subjects of the king
of Assyria. Esarhaddon continued to reign in peace
over Babylon for thirteen years, his rule being only
diversified by these small intrigues and domestic
events; and on his death in B.C. 668, he left the
government of Babylon to his younger son, Saul-
142 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
mugina, the elder son, Assur-bani-pal, being already
installed as king of Assyria.1
Peace continued in Babylonia under the rule of
Saul-mugina, who answers to the Saosduchinos of
Ptolemy and the Sammughes of Polyhistor.
This general quiet was, however, broken after about
ten years, by Urtaki, king of Elam. He had been on
good terms with Esarhaddon, and afterwards with his
sons ; but suddenly changing his policy, he persuaded
Bel-basa, king of the Gambulai, and some other local
chiefs, to join him in hostility against Assur-bani-pal
and Saul-mugina. Urtaki then, with these chiefs in
his train, made an irruption into Babylonia, and
spreading his troops over the country, gave it up to
plunder. Saul-mugina, who was in Babylon, was
alarmed at this inroad, and sent at once to ask the
aid of his brother Assur-bani-pal, king of Assyria. At
this time, 'although Saul-mugina was king of Babylon,
he was tributary and subject to his elder brother,
1 It was while Esarhaddon was holding his court at Babylon
that Manasseh of Judah was brought there captive, according to
2 Chronicles xxxiii. n. The character and rule of Esarhaddon
seem to have been mild, and the release of Manasseh from cap-
tivity is paralleled by other similar acts of clemency upon his
part— S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 143
Babylon being dependent upon Nineveh. Assur-
bani-pal himself appointed the provincial governors in
Babylonia. He had his own garrisons and com-
manders, and his generals reported to himself instead
of to his brother. Besides this, he repaired the Baby-
lonian temples, and made offerings at the various
shrines in his own name, thus having the priesthood
immediately connected with himself. The active
control of affairs being thus in the hands of the king
of Assyria, Assur-bani-pal responded to the appeal of
his brother, and after sending an officer to report to
himself on the Elamite raid, he suddenly moved a
force into Babylonia, and, coming up with Urtaki
before he could retreat into Elam with his spoil,
inflicted upon him a defeat and drove him across the
border.
This war led to a succession of contests with Elam,
which belong rather to the history of Assyria than to
that of Babylonia. The result of these expeditions
was, that Assur-bani-pal conquered Elam, and set
upon the throne of that country Umman-igas, a son
of Urtaki, who engaged to pay tribute to Assyria.
The Elamites, who were a brave, warlike race, were
restless under the yoke of Assyria ; and Saul-mugina,
king of Babylon, was also tired of his subordinate
144 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
position. General disaffection spread over Chal-
dea, Arabia, Syria, and Palestine; while Psammeti-
chus, king of Egypt, had revolted, and, expelling the
Assyrians from that country, in alliance with Gyges,
king of Lydia, made war against Assur-bani-pal. The
moment seemed propitious for a general revolt, and the
Assyrian monarch, foreseeing that trouble was coming,
issued a proclamation to the Babylonians, dated on
the 23rd day of the month lyyar, in the eponymy of
Assur-dur-uzur about B.C. 650. In this document
he reminds them of the benefits he had given them,
and of the close brotherhood between Assyria and
Babylonia.
Saul-mugina at that time meditated a revolt ; but
to mask his proceedings he sent an embassy to
Nineveh, to assure his brother of his fidelity, and to
deceive the Assyrian monarch until his preparations
were completed. The first object of the Babylonian
monarch was to seek allies, and his attentio_n was
naturally turned to Elam. Saul-mugina, following the
example of several former rulers, broke open the
treasuries of Bel at Babylon, Nebo at Borsippa, and
Nergal at Cutha, and sent the gold and silver as a
present to Umman-igas, king of Elam, in payment for
his assistance ; and the two monarchs made an agree-
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 145
nient to make war against Assur-bani-pal. In Chaldea
they were supported by Nabu-bel-zikri, the grandson
of Merodach-Baladan, who ruled the sea-coast, by
Sin-tabni-uzur, son of Ningal-idina, governor of Ur,
by Mannu-ki-babili of Dakkuri, by Hea-mubasa of
Amukkan, by Nadan of Pekod, and by various subor-
dinate chiefs. Vahta, king of Arabia, hearing that the
Babylonians and Elamites were bent on revolt, sent and
made alliance with them, hoping, if the revolt were
successful, to gain possession of Palestine and Syria
for himself. Vahta raised two forces, one of which
he led into Palestine and marched through Edom,
Moab, the Hauran, and Hamath, where his progress
was stopped by the Assyrian generals, who defeated
him and drove him back to his own country. The
other force he placed under the control of two chiefs,
Aimu and Abiyateh, and sent them to Babylon to
draw off the attention of the Assyrians by assisting
Saul-mugina at Babylon. Assur-bani-pal, who had re-
ceived the embassy from his brother with great honour
and ceremony, and had feasted them in Nineveh, was
suddenly awakened by the breaking out of the revolt ;
Elam, Babylonia, and Arabia in concert throwing oft
the Assyrian yoke.
The king of Elam marched his army into Babylonia,
L
146 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
and the Arabians joined the confederates at Babylon.
The combined forces then attacked the Assyrian gar-
risons, and everywhere expelled the officers of Assur-
bani-pal. Saul-mugina chose four cities for military
centres: Sippara, Babylon, Borsippa, and Cutha.
These he fortified, and prepared to resist a siege, as
his brother was gathering a force to reconquer the
country.
Before, however, the Assyrians reached the scene,
divisions appeared among the insurgents. As soon as
Umman-igas, king of Elam, had sent his army to
Babylon, his son Tammaritu made a conspiracy
against him, and, raising a force, defeated the royal
troops. Capturing his father in the battle, he cut off
his head, and sent it to Assur-bani-pal. After this,
Tammaritu, who had assumed the crown of Elam,
was induced by the Babylonians to assist them, and
he marched into their country with his army.
Assur-bani-pal was now advancing, and his forces,
under the leadership of a general named Bel-ibni,
defeated the confederates, and, overrunning the open
country, shut them up in the four cities, Babylon,
Borsippa, Cutha, and Sippara. When Tammaritu
had gone to Babylonia, Inda-bigas, one of his ser-
vants, set up as king in Elam, and, the people going
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 147
over to his side, Tammaritu found himself cut off
from his own country. Tammaritu, with the Assyrian
army on one side, and Inda-bigas on the other, was
in a great strait, and taking flight with some of his
friends, he found his way to the sea-coast, where he
took ship and tried to escape. The vessel in which
Tammaritu sailed was, however, soon afterwards
caught in a storm and driven back on the coast, and
Tammaritu, being ill, was carried on shore, where he
took refuge in the marshes ; but on receiving a promise
of protection from Assur-bani-pal, he surrendered to
the Assyrians.
Meanwhile the Assyrian generals were crushing the
Babylonian revolt ; the strongholds successively fell,
and Babylon, the last hope of the rebels, was closely
besieged. Famine and pestilence, the fruits of war,
were desolating the country, while the Assyrians were
completing its ruin.
In the year B.C. 648 Babylon fell, and Saul-mugina,
finding that the city was captured, set fire to his palace,
and perished in the flames. After the fall of Babylon,
the Assyrians proceeded to punish the smaller chiefs
who had aided in the revolt; but one of the most
active of these, Nabu-bel-zikri, a grandson of Mero-
dach-Baladan, who ruled the region of the sea-coast,
L 2
148 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
escaped from the officers of Assur-bani-pal, and fled to
Elam, to the court of Inda-bigas. Inda-bigas, finding
the Babylonian revolt had failed, desired to make his
peace with Assur-bani-pal, and sent an embassy to
Assyria to propitiate the Ninevite monarch. Assur-
bani-pal met the envoy with a demand for the surrender
of Nabu-bel-zikri, the grandson of Merodach-Baladan,
then a refugee at the court of Inda-bigas, and threat-
ened to invade Elam, and waste it with fire and
sword if this demand was not complied with. Before
the return of the messenger with this message, Inda-
bigas was dead. Umman-aldas, an Elamite com-
mander, had revolted against him, and killed him and
his family, in his turn ascending the Elamite throne.
Assur-bani-pal now sent an embassy to the new
monarch, to demand the surrender of the Chaldean
prince, and Umman-aldas received the envoys of the
Assyrian monarch.
Nabu-bel-zikri, now fearing that he should be de-
livered up by the king of Elam to Assur-bani-pal, called
on his armour-bearer to despatch him, and the two
ran each other through with their swords. Umman-
aldas took the body of Nabu-bel-zikri and the head of
his armour-bearer and delivered them to the messen-
gers of Assur-bani-pal, who carried them to Assyria.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 149
The death of Nabu-bel-zikri extinguished the family
of Merodach-Baladan, and put an end to the trouble
and danger to Assyria arising from their constant
efforts to shake off the Ninevite yoke.
Babylonia now enjoyed a quiet of some years under
the reign of Assur-bani-pal ; but the condition of the
country at this time is uncertain. It is supposed that
trouble arose on the death of Assur-bani-pal, B.C. 626,
and that a claimant named Bel-zakir-iskun set him-
self up as king. It is certain that at this time there
was a revolt of some sort, and the Assyrian monarch
sent a general named Nabu-pal-uzur (Nabopolassar)
to subdue it. Nabopolassar, after reconquering the
country, was rewarded by the Assyrian monarch with
the crown of Babylonia. Nabopolassar was a man of
genius and ambition, and while Assyria, nominally
the governing state, was fast decaying, raised Baby-
lonia to a high pitch of power and prosperity. The fall
of Assyria was now imminent. The upper provinces
had all been ravaged by the Scythians, and a new and
powerful state had arisen on the east of the empire
in Media, now ruled by Cyaxares ; while Babylonia
was being reorganized under Nabopolassar and the
Egyptians were laying siege to Ashdod in the west
Cyaxares having determined on the conquest of
1^0 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Assyria, Nabopolassar sent and offered to make an
alliance with him for this purpose, the treaty to be
cemented by the marriage of Amuhia or Amytis, the
daughter of Cyaxares,1 with Nabu-kudur-uzur or Nebu-
chadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar. This treaty pro-
bably included also the king of Egypt, for he assisted
in the war against Assyria, marching up through
Palestine to Carchemish on the Euphrates, which he
captured.
The account of the siege and fall of Nineveh, and
1 It is very probable that some mutilated tablets discovered
by Mr. Smith refer to Cyaxares and the closing days of the
Assyrian monarchy. The writing upon them is extremely bad*
and they seem to be rough copies hastily executed, and never
carefully copied out again. The name of the Assyrian king for
whom they were written is Esar-haddon, which may be com-
pared with the name Saracus, assigned to the last monarch of
Nineveh by classical writers. We learn from them that Kaztariti
king of the Kar-kassi (" the fortress of the Kassi," perhaps), had
allied himself with Mamitarsu, the chief of the Medes, the
Kimmerians, the Minnians of Lake Van, and the people of
Saparda (the Sepharad of Obad. 20), on the Black Sea, and
invaded Assyria. Many of the Assyrian cities were taken, and
the King of Nineveh ordered a fast of one hundred days and
nights to the gods, in order to avert the danger with which the
empire was threatened. It was at this crisis, when the enemy
was hourly expected to attack Nineveh itself, that the tablets
were composed. — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 151
the extinction of the Assyrian empire, will be found
in the "History of Assyria," pp. 189-191. No trust-
worthy history of this period from any ancient source
is known, and one difficulty in the case is, to know
how to choose between what is probable and what is
unlikely in the various notices which have come down
to us.
152 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
CHAPTER IX.
THE EMPIRE OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
Rise of the Babylonian Empire — Egypt and Media — Nebuchad-
nezzar, his conquests and buildings — Destruction of Jerusalem
— Invasion of Egypt — Siege of Tyre — The kingdom of Lydia
— Babylon adorned — Character of Nebuchadnezzar — Evil-
Merodach, his murder — Nergalsharezer.
AFTER the fall of Assyria, a natural division of the
territories of the departed empire was made. The
Median provinces and the north of Assyria as far as
Cilicia, fell to Cyaxares of Media; the south of
Assyria and part of Arabia fell to Babylon, the
western boundary of Nabopolassar being the Upper
Euphrates. All west of Carchemish and south of
Cilicia was joined to Egypt.
It was evident that the division was only pro-
visional, and could only last until the three powers
could determine in conflict their relative strength ;
and accordingly, after about three years, the whole
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. I -7
*/ \f
arrangement was overturned by the action of Nabo-
polassar, king of Babylon.
The overthrow of the Assyrian empire marks a
great epoch in the history of the world ; it is the in-
dication of a coming change, which swept away the
old despotism and base idolatry of Western Asia, and
brought in the era of a purer and nobler faith. The
king of Babylon and Pharaoh of Egypt assisted in
the work of dismembering the expiring empire ; but
events they little foresaw were ripening, and they
were really exchanging for their countries the fami-
liar yoke of Assyria for another and sterner rule,
under which their political existence would be
crushed.
The great event of this age is the rise of the Medo-
Persian power, which showed a remarkable superiority
to the empires which preceded it, by a superior system
of government, and better military discipline. Its
dominion, within a century, extended to the east and
west far beyond the greatest limits ever reached by
former powers. The complete triumph of the Aryans
was, however, delayed by the rise of the reviving
Babylonian empire. The brilliant genius of Nabo-
polassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar made Babylon
for the time the centre of the political world. This
154 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
impetus, due to individual ability, quickly failed, and
only left Babylonia a richer and more tempting prize
for the rising power of Persia. The fall of Nineveh
and sudden extinction of the Assyrian power was fol-
lowed by a pause in the events then so rapidly hurry-
ing along. Although the hammer of the earth was
broken, it seemed for the moment as if there was no
state able to take the mantle of the departed empire.
The smaller states were now independent, while on
the ruins of the Assyrian monarchy stood three
powers, apparently equally balanced and equally re-
luctant to disturb their neighbours.
Egypt on the west was now a great state. Its king
held court in Northern Syria, and its soldiers en-
camped by the banks of the river Euphrates. All
the country west of this great natural boundary
acknowledged the sway of Pharaoh Necho, the extent
of whose empire rivalled the dominions of Egypt in
her most palmy days, under the great Thothmes and
Rameses of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties.
On the south, Babylonia had attained a power
which she had not possessed for several centuries :
the south of Assyria and the region of the Khabur
were added to her empire, and whatever culture and
advancement Assyria had possessed had at once gra-
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 155
vitated towards Babylon. On the north and east
Media had risen within a few years from a condition
of division and lawlessness to a compact and powerful
monarchy; and the empire of Cyaxares, king of Media,
extended from the river Halys, in Asia Minor, to the
east of Persia.
There was a mutual agreement between the three
powers, and the marriage of the son of the king of
Babylon with the daughter of the king of Media assured
the peace between these states ; besides which, all
had so recently acquired their possessions that much
organization was necessary before any further exten-
sion of them could be made.
It seems that the first power to recover was Baby-
lon. Nabopolassar was active from the first, and
organized his new possessions so as to be quickly
ready for war ; and then, as generally happens, a pre-
text for hostilities was soon found by one who was
looking out for it.
Some discussion arose with Necho, king of Egypt,
probably about the rights or boundaries of the Egyp-
tians and Babylonians, and in B.C. 605 war was de-
clared between the two powers. Nabopolassar was now
too old and infirm for active operations in the field ;
and being anxious to prosecute the war with vigour,
156 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
placed his troops under command of his eldest son,
Nebuchadnezzar, a young man of great promise. The
Egyptian army meanwhile lay idly at Carchemish, on
the Upper Euphrates, Necho not having the judg-
ment to prepare against his young antagonist.
Nebuchadnezzar advanced to Carchemish, and
attacked and routed the Egyptian army there, gaining
by this movement the control of all Syria. The Egyp-
tians appear to have had no reserves, and the Baby-
lonians marched through Syria and Palestine unop-
posed, receiving the submission in turn of all the
petty princes as far as the borders of Egypt.
Among these tributaries was Jehoiakim king of
Judah, who had been set on the throne by Necho,
but who was now forced to submit to the Babylonian
yoke.
While Nebuchadnezzar was absent in Syria his
father, Nabopolassar, died, and Nebuchadnezzar
hastened back to Babylon to assume the govern-
ment. The Babylonian army now returned laden
with the spoils of the west and the tribute of Syria,
and Babylon assumed the position of metropolis of
the world.
Soon after Nebuchadnezzar had returned to Babylon,
about B.C. 602, Palestine revolted, the rising being
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 157
most probably prompted by the Egyptians. Nebuchad-
nezzar was at the time engaged in other works, and
unable to attend to these affairs until B.C. 598,
when he once more swept down upon Palestine, at-
tacking Tyre on the way, and marched into Judah. At
this time Jehoiakim, king of Judah, died, and was
succeeded by his son Jehoiachin, who was scarcely
seated on his father's throne when Nebuchadnezzar
deposed him, and raised his uncle, Zedekiah, to the
kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar desired a ruler in Judah
who should owe his throne to Babylon, and be free
from Egyptian influence, and he caused Zedekiah to
swear by Jehovah to be faithful to himself. Jehoia-
chin, the late king, who was a mere youth, together with
numerous other captives, he carried with him to Baby-
lon. The new Jewish ruler, Zedekiah, did no better
than his late brother, and encouraged by the Egyp-
tians, the kings of Tyre and Zidon, Edom, Moab and
Ammon sent embassies to Jerusalem about B.C. 593,
to concert plans for making a Palestinian confederacy
under the leadership of Egypt to revolt against
Babylon. They appear to have taken advantage of a
good opportunity, Nebuchadnezzar being engaged on
his eastern frontier. The Elamites, once a powerful
nation, had been crushed by the Assyrians in the
158 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
reign of Assur-bani-pal, but after the defeat of the
Assyrians by the Medes and Babylonians they had
revived, and regained considerable strength. Of the
circumstances which brought them into contact with
the Babylonians we are ignorant, and we know nothing
of the history of the war; the final result of the
struggle was, however, to extinguish once more the
independence of Elam, the country being now annexed
to Babylonia.
Soon after this, Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 589, moved
into Syria, and taking up his head-quarters at Riblah, in
the land of Hamath, directed his troops against
Palestine. Nebuzaradan,1 his general, laid siege to
Jerusalem, the centre of the revolt, where the Jews
within the city were divided into two parties, one for
submission to the Chaldeans, the other for resistance.
At this time Apries or Hophra was king of Egypt ; he
had entered with spirit into the Palestinian league,
and with his fleet had occupied some parts of the
Phoenician coast ; on the advance of Nebuchadnezzar
he assembled his army, and marched against Jerusalem
to endeavour to raise the siege of the city. In this
effort he was unsuccessful, though at first the Chaldean
1 In Assyrian Nabu-zira-iddina "Nebo gave a seed."— S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 159
general alarmed by the advance of the Egyptians,
retired from the siege. Whether the latter engaged
the army of Pharoah we do not know, but certainly
he forced the Egyptians to abandon their enterprise,
and leave Jerusalem to its fate. On his return accord-
ingly Nebuzaradan pressed the siege with vigour, and
in B.C. 587, Jerusalem fell. The Chaldean army
marched in and destroyed the city, burning the
Temple, and carrying away its sacred vessels and trea-
sures. Zedekiah attempted to save himself by flight,
but was captured, and carried before Nebuchadnezzar,
who put his sons to death before his face, and then
put out his eyes.
Besides Jerusalem several other cities of Judah were
plundered and destroyed, and the people carried into
captivity.
The surrounding nations of Palestine which had
joined in the revolt were punished in their turn, and
in B.C. 586 the Babylonian monarch laid siege to
Tyre. Tyre at this time was the central city of
Mediterranean commerce, and having possession of a
powerful fleet, and a position on the sea coast, it was
in an excellent condition for resisting a blockade by
land. For thirteen years the army of Nebuchadnezzar
sat round its walls, and even when the city was taken
l6o HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
(B.C. 573) the conqueror gained very little to reward
his toil.1
Meanwhile events were happening elsewhere to call
off the attention of the Babylonian monarch.
Nebuchadnezzar had wedded the daughter of the
king of Media, and this alliance insured the peace
between these two nations. The warlike Median
monarch did not interfere with the conquests of his
great son-in-law, but he, at the same time, sought an
empire outside the circle of the Babylonian conquests.
On the east of Media, in Armenia, and the eastern
part of Asia Minor, the Median empire was extended,
and its western border now touched the dominions
of the rising Lydian kingdom. Since the time of
Gyges Lydia had enjoyed great prosperity, and its
territory now embraced a considerable portion of Asia
Minor. A dispute arose between Lydia and Media
on account of some fugitives, who fled from the court
of Cyaxares, king of Media, and took refuge with
Alyattes, king of Lydia. In B.C. 590 war broke out
between the two powers in consequence of the Lydians
refusing to deliver up the fugitives.
This war is said to have lasted five years, with no
1 It is by no means clear that Nebuchadnezzar did take Tyre.
So judicious a historian as Mr. Grote thinks not. — S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. l6l
permanent advantage on either side, when, in B.C.
585, while the Lydians and Medes were engaged in
battle there happened an eclipse of the sun, and both
armies taking this as an omen, the opportunity was
seized by the king of Cilicia and Nebuchadnezzar to
press a peace upon the combatants.1
Meanwhile affairs in Palestine were still unsettled.
The Jews had revolted, and murdered Gedaliah, the
governor set over them by Nebuchadnezzar, and then
many of the people had sought an asylum in Egypt,
hoping there to be beyond the vengeance of the
Chaldeans. The tribes around Palestine were also
disaffected, and Tyre still held out, the length of the
siege giving some hopes to the enemies of Babylonia
in this direction. A new Chaldean force was sent into
Palestine B.C. 582, Judah being again ravaged, and
the last of its captives sent to Babylon. It was pro-
bably about this time that Nebuchadnezzar punished
the tribes on the borders of the desert east of Pales-
tine, and sent an army which penetrated far into
Arabia, and nominally added a considerable part of
that difficult country to the Babylonian empire.
It is probable that the command of the Mediter-
1 According to Mr. Hind, this eclipse would have taken place
May 28th, B.C. 584.
M
1 62 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
ranean, then in the hands of the Tyrian fleet,
enabled them to remove the bulk of their wealth
before the fall of the city. Within the reach of the
Babylonian sovereign there still remained Egypt,
which had fomented and encouraged every successive
rebellion in Palestine. In B.C. 572 Nebuchadnezzar
marched in person into that country, and defeating
the army of Hophra, overran Egypt, and plundered it
of all its wealth. Hophra fell into his hands, and was
deposed, a general named Ahmes or Amasis being
acknowledged as king of Egypt in his stead, the new
monarch being installed as a vassal of Babylonia.
The conquest of Egypt probably closed the era of
the foreign wars of Nebuchadnezzar : these contests
had lasted at least thirty-three years, and had extended
from the confines of Persia in the east to Libya in
the west, and from Cilicia in the north to Arabia in
the south. The boundaries of the Babylonian king-
dom at this time comprised, so far as we know, Elam
or Khuzistan on the east, and parts north of this,
including Zimri and the region as far as the Zagros
mountains, taking in all the best part of Assyria, and
probably all the region south of the Mardin mountains,
across to Cilicia, where the boundary touched the
Mediterranean. All Syria, as far as the Mediterranean,
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 163
was included, and Egypt, with part of Libya, on the
west. It is uncertain if Cyprus owned the sway of
Nebuchadnezzar, and nothing is known of most of the
states of Asia Minor. On the south the empire was
bordered by the Libyan desert, the cataracts of the
Nile, and an uncertain line running through Arabia.
The Persian Gulf was under Babylonian control, both
shores being subject to Nebuchadnezzar, and a con-
siderable commerce was carried on from it to India.
The rapidity with which this empire had been ac-
quired shows the genius of Nabopolassar and his son
Nebuchadnezzar. Only forty years before, Babylonia
had been subject to Assyria, and within that space
the Babylonians had, in conjunction with the Medes,
crushed the power of Assyria, conquered its depen-
dencies, broken the power of the monarchy raised by
Psammetichus in Egypt, overrun Arabia, and annexed
Elam.
The fame of Nebuchadnezzar rests, however, more
on his buildings than his conquests. Short outlines
and notes in the Bible, and various ancient authors,
are all that remain of the political events of his reign,
and it is at present impossible to fill in the details of
his various campaigns ; but he himself has left us in
his inscriptions minute and remarkable accounts of
M 2
164 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
his various architectural works. These show precisely
the spirit mentioned in the book of Daniel. All his
labour and all his glory, were to make Babylon the
grandest city of the world ; nothing was spared that
absolute power could dictate and that wealth or genius
could supply, and under Nebuchadnezzar Babylon
became the glory and wonder of the world.
The great temple of Babylon, called Saggal, which
was dedicated to Merodach or Bel,1 he rebuilt and
richly adorned with gold, silver, and precious stones ;
and here he once more reared the head of the ziggur-
rat or tower called Temin-sami-irtsiti, "the foundation
of heaven (and) earth." The sanctuary of Bel he roofed
with cedar brought from the mountains of Lebanon,
and overlaid with gold ; the temples of Birbir and
Ziru, dedicated to Bel and Rubat, the temple of the
Moon god, the temple of the Sun, the temple of Vul,the
atmospheric god, the temple of the goddess Gula, the
temple of Venus, and other buildings, he reconstructed
1 Bel-Merodach was termed the younger Bel, to distinguish
him from the elder Bel, one of the members of the trinity, Anu,
Bel, and Hea. The older Bel was called Mul or Mul-ge, "the
lord of the abyss " in Accadian, and presided over the earth and
underground world. Bel, Assyrian Bilu, is the Hebrew Baal,
"lord."— S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 165
and beautified. He raised the celebrated hanging
gardens, which consisted of arched terraces covered
with earth, in which grew all manner of trees and
flowers. He rebuilt the great walls of Babylon called
Imgur-Bel and Nimit-Bel, and he completed the mag-
nificent palace partly built by his father.
In Borsippa, which lay to the west of Babylon, on
the other side of the Euphrates, he rebuilt the temple
of Nebo and some smaller shrines. Here was a cele-
brated temple, probably standing on the site of the
traditional tower of Babel. This temple was raised in
the form of a truncated pyramid or ziggurrat, but only
42 cubits (70 feet) had been built, and the structure
being left unfinished had fallen into ruin. Nebuchad-
nezzar rebuilt it in the form of a temple of seven stages,
each stage being dedicated to one of the planetary
bodies.
At all the various cities of Babylonia he rebuilt the
principal temples, but nowhere did he lavish such
magnificence as at Babylon. Looking down on this
proud city, which he had made the mistress of the
world, we can well conceive the monarch saying, " Is
not this great Babylon that I have built for the house
of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for
the honour of my majesty ? "
1 66 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
In the court, and among the upper classes, there
was at this time a luxury equal to the magnificence of
the buildings. Lebanon furnished its cedars, Tyre its
goods and manufactures, Helbon, the Shuite district,
the north of Assyria and Syria, furnished various wines,
which flowed on the royal and priestly tables like
rivers ; cattle, animals of all sorts, strange birds, and
fish, some presents from distant lands, others the
plunder of conquered and oppressed nations, filled
the fields and waters of Babylon ; and the noblest
youths of conquered peoples served in the presence of
the king and courtiers.
The last ten years of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar
appear to have been spent in peace, surrounded by
all this pomp and luxury. During this period, ac-
cording to the book of Daniel, the king suffered for a
time under a form of madness, conceiving himself to
be a beast of the field. No inscription or notice in
confirmation of this has yet been discovered ; but it
must be remembered that our knowledge of the whole
of the reign is very scanty.
So far as we can trace the character of Nebuchad-
nezzar, he appears to have been a sovereign of great
ability, a good general, bold in design, and resolute in
action. The long wars he waged over most of the
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 167
then known world, his defeat of the Egyptians at
Carchemish at the outset of his career, and his long
and determined blockade of Tyre, show his military
character ; but, like most Oriental sovereigns, his acts
were stained with cruelty. As a builder, Nebuchad-
nezzar stands in the first rank, and he was a great
patron of arts and sciences. His system of govern-
ment was the usual Eastern one of draining and
oppressing conquered countries and subject provinces
to increase the glory and magnificence of his capital.
In religion Nebuchadnezzar was, like most rulers,
faithful to the orthodoxy of his day. Merodach or Bel
and Nebo were his great divinities, and after them
came a train of lesser gods, who each shared the
devotion and gifts of the sovereign. His gods are
said to inspire his heart ; he acknowledges that his life
and success were from them, and he raises at their
holy seats prayer and thanksgiving to them.
Such was Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest of the Baby-
lonian sovereigns. He reigned over Western Asia
from his campaign against Carchemish, in B.C. 605,
until his death, B.C. 562. On the death of Nebuchad-
nezzar his crown descended to his son Amil-Mar-
uduk, the Evil-Merodach of the Bible, called by the
Greeks Ilouarodam.
1 68 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Evil-Merodach appears, so far as we can judge, to
have been a pacific sovereign ; but the ancient authors
who mention him condemn his government. Nebu-
chadnezzar had taken captive Jehoiachin, king of
Judah, and kept him in prison at Babylon. Evil-Mero-
dach, however, released the captive when he came to
the throne, and seated him in honour at Babylon.
It is probable that in other respects Evil-Merodach
reversed the policy of his father, and this led to
discontent among the proud overbearing nobles of
Babylon. In consequence of this a conspiracy was
formed against him, led by his own brother-in-law
Nergal-sar-uzur, the Nergalsharezer of the Bible,
called Neri-glissor by the Greek writers, and Evil-
Merodach was assassinated after a reign of two years,
B.C. 560.
On the murder of Evil-Merodach the conspirators
raised to the throne Nergalsharezer, their leader. He
was the son of Bel-zakir-iskun, who had ruled at
Babylon during the troublous period towards the close
of the Assyrian monarchy. It is unknown whether
he was the same as the Bel-zakir-iskun who ruled in
Assyria about the same time. Nergalsharezer had
been appointed rubu emga (the Rabmag of the Bible),
which appears to have been one of the highest titles
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
169
in the state, and he received in marriage a daughter
of Nebuchadnezzar ; thus becoming closely connected
with the throne.
He accompanied the Babylonian army to Jerusalem,
and is mentioned as sitting in the gate after the taking
of the city. At the time of his accession to the
throne he was advanced in years, and he only reigned
a little more than three years, dying in B.C. 556.
Nergalsharezer is only known to have repaired the
river front of the Babylonian palace, and to have
built a new palace for himself there. Like his pre-
decessor, he engaged in no warlike expeditions, and
the military strength of the Babylonian empire slowly
declined.
1 70 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
CHAPTER X.
THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE BABYLONIAN
EMPIRE. •
Laborosoarchod — Nabonidus — Babylon fortified — Astyages and
Cyrus — Cyrus besieges Babylon — Babylon taken by the Per-
sians— The Darius of Daniel — Return of the Jews from exile
— Cambyses and Smerdis — Darius Hystaspes — Revolt and
capture of Babylon — Second revolt of Babylon under Arahu
— Babylon taken — Decline of Babylon.
THE son and successor of Nergalsharezer was called
by the Greeks Laborosoarchod, perhaps a corruption
of the Babylonian name Ulbar-surki-idina. This
prince had only reigned nine months when a new
conspiracy was formed, and he was assassinated; a
man named Nabu-imtuk, or Nabu-nahid, called by
the Greeks Labynetus or Nabonidus, son of the
rubu emga or rabmag Nabu-balatsu-iqbi, being raised
to the throne B.C. 556. Nabonidus either was a de-
scendant of Nebuchadnezzar on the female side, or
married into the family to strengthen his right to the
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 17 1
throne. In connection with him we find mentioned
in Herodotus a queen named Nitocris, to whom some
of the great works at Babylon are ascribed.
During the reign of Nabonidus the inactivity abroad
continued, while political events outside Babylonia
were ripening for the destruction of that state.
Nabonidus rebuilt and restored the various temples,
and did all he could to propitiate the priesthood.
Seeing that Babylonia, which had been so long inac-
tive, would soon have to prepare to resist the Medes
and Persians, Nabonidus repaired and increased the
defences of the capital. Towards the close of his
reign, Nabonidus associated with himself on the throne
his eldest son Bel-sar-uzur, the Belshazzar of the book
of Daniel.1 About the year B.C. 540 an attack was
made upon Babylon by the Medes and Persians, the
immediate pretext of which is not known.
Since the peace between Lydia and Media in B.C.
585, a general cessation of hostilities had continued
1 This is doubtful. Belshazzar (Bilu-sarra-utsur) is called the
eldest son of Nabonidus in one of the latter's inscriptions ; but
a dated tablet from Babylon mentions the third year of Mero-
dach-sarra-utsur, and not Bel-sarra-utsur. However, Merodach
was also addressed as Bel, and, according to the book of Daniel,
Eelshazzar was in command in Babylon at the time of the cap-
ture of that city by Cyrus. — S.
172 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
for some years in those countries. Cyaxares, king of
Media, had died, and his son Astyages, who succeeded
him, being a pacific prince, had not sought to emulate
the great military expeditions of his father.
Astyages had a daughter, whom he married to Cam-
byses, king of Persia, that country being at the time
one of the tributaries of Media. Of this marriage
was born Cyrus, the future master of the world.1 Cyrus
on coming to man's estate conceived tbe project of
freeing Persia from the dominion of Media, and having
persuaded the Persians to follow him in the enterprise,
he threw off the Median yoke. The date of this event
is supposed to have been about B.C. 559. A long and
obstinate war followed, which ended in the ultimate
triumph of Persia. During this struggle Lydia on the
west, and Babylon on the south-west, although directly
interested, maintained a policy of non-intervention,
and allowed the Median power to fall into the hands
of Cyrus, a man destined to conquer them both.
1 It must be remembered that the descent of Cyrus from
Astyages rests on very doubtful authority. The very name of
Astyages has a mythical aspect, as it is merely the Greek form
of the Zend Aj-dahak, "the biting snake" of night and dark-
ness, the Ahi of the Hindu Veda, and the Zohak of Firdusi.
— S.
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 173
After uniting Media and Persia, Cyrus proceeded to
extend his power in every direction, subduing nation
after nation to his yoke. In the course of these wars
he came in contact with the Lydians, then ruled by
Croesus. Croesus, who in a smaller way had been
extending his dominions, feared he would be attacked,
and sent to make an alliance with Babylonia, Egypt,
and Sparta. Before these allies could assist him he
was assaulted by Cyrus, who, after an indecisive battle,
followed Croesus to his capital, Sardis, and besieged
and captured the city ; thus putting an end to the
Lydian power.
During this contest Babylonia and Egypt remained
inactive, and nothing was done to check the power
of Persia, while Cyrus overran and conquered all Asia
Minor.
After his preparations were complete, Cyrus pro-
claimed war against Nabonidus, king of Babylon. The
Chaldeans, after their long peace, were unfitted for war,
and Nabonidus appears to have been destitute of mili-
tary skill. In a single battle Cyrus defeated the Baby-
lonian army, and at once invested Babylon, while
Nabonidus sought refuge in the neighbouring city
of Borsippa. At this time we gather from the book
of Daniel that the government of the city of Babylon
174 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
was in the hands of Belshazzar, who is mentioned in
an inscription of the period along with his father
Nabonidus.
Babylon was strongly fortified, and its people were
trusting in their defences and holding high festival,
when the Persians, who had made a canal above the
city, and diverted part of the waters of the river, forded
the Euphrates in the night, and entered the city by
the river gates, which has been left unguarded during
the festival. Belshazzar, son of Nabonidus, was
slain in the attack, and the city fell into the hands of
Cyrus, B.C. 539.
The book of Daniel here states that Darius, son
of Ahasuerus, took the kingdom, while ancient authors
generally represent Cyrus as sole leader of the con-
quest. Much discussion has arisen as to the person-
ality of this Darius ; some suppose him to be Astyages,
the grandfather of Cyrus ; others make him the same
as Cyaxares, son of Astyages ; while a third section
consider him to be a Median prince, otherwise un-
known to history. One inquirer, Mr. Bosanquet,
adheres to the unlikely theory that he is the same as
Darius Hystaspes.1
The existence of Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, is more
than doubtful, as it depends on Xenophon'.s romance of the Cyro-
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 175
The inscriptions have as yet afforded no information
on this point, but we may be certain that the rule of
this Darius was short, and Ptolemy's Canon, our best
chronological authority, places the first year of Cyrus
B.C 538.
Cyrus, after the conquest of Babylon, administered
the government with care and attention to the laws
and religion of the country. The Persians were
Monotheists, and in principle opposed to the degrad-
ing religions of Western Asia ; but in the time of
Cyrus they adopted the rule of governing the subject
countries in accordance with their native traditions.
Thus we find Cyrus, who by religion believed in one
God only, and raised no images for his worship, re-
pairing in Babylonia the temples of Saggal at Babylon,
Sidda at Borsippa, and Parra at Larsa, and preserving
the Babylonian worship in these temples.
The same desire to conciliate the nations under his
sway led Cyrus to permit the Jews to return to their
own country, and to rebuild the temple which
pasdia. The Hebrew Ahasuerus represents the Greek Xerxes.
The dated tablets recently procured from Babylon record only
the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors down to Na-
bonidus and Merodach-sarra-utsur, and then pass on to Cyrus
and Cambyses. — S.
176 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed. Cyrus died B.C.
530, leaving his crown to his son Cambyses, under
whom there was little change in the condition of
Babylonia. The people, however, were dissatisfied
with the foreign dominion, and secretly prepared to
revolt against Persia, only waiting for an opportunity
to throw off the yoke of their conquerors.
An opportunity soon occurred : Cambyses was absent
in Egypt (which he conquered B.C. 527) during the
latter part of his reign, and some dissatisfaction arose
in Media and Persia in consequence. The dissatis-
faction among the Medes was increased by the feeling
that whereas Media had been the chief state, it was
now subject to Persia, which had once been tributary
to it.
Cambyses had secretly murdered his younger
brother Bardes, or Smerdis, and this fact appears to
have been unknown among the people. A Median,
one of the Magi, named Gumatu or Gomates, taking
advantage of the disaffection during the absence of
Cambyses, personated the dead prince Smerdis,
and declaring himself son of Cyrus, rose in rebellion
B.C. 522, and Media and Persia went over to him.
Cambyses, on hearing of the revolt, left Egypt in haste
to meet the pretender, but killed himself (perhaps by
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. 177
accident) in Syria while on the road to Persia. Soon
aftenvards the Magian usurper was killed by Darius,
son of Hystaspes (" Ancient Hist from the Monu-
ments: Persia," pp. 29, 30, S.P.CK.), and Darius
mounted the throne of Persia.
During these troubles the Babylonians were pre-
paring to revolt, and a man arose among them named
Nadintu-Bel, son of Aniri, who declared himself to be
Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabonidus, the late Baby-
lonian sovereign.
Under this man the Babylonians revolted on the
accession of Darius, B.C. 522, and at the same time
Susiana threw off the yoke of Persia. Darius, after
sending a deputy, who conquered the Susians, pro-
ceeded himself against Babylon. On arriving at the
Tigris, the Persian monarch found the Babylonians
had command of the river, and opposed his crossing ;
they had removed the ferry-boats, and posted their
forces opposite the road, but Darius passed his troops
over the river, and defeated the Babylonian army ;
after which he marched towards Babylon, and reached
the Euphrates at the town of Zazan, near Babylon,
where the pretended Nebuchadnezzar again offered
battle. In the second engagement the Persians were
again triumphant, the Babylonians being routed, and
178 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
part of their forces driven into the river. Nadintu-
Bel fled with a few of his soldiers, and took refuge in
Babylon, where he was followed and captured by
Darius, who executed him for his rebellion about
B.C. 521.
For some years after this Babylon remained subject
to Persia, but about B.C. 515 a man named Arahu,
son of Handita, arose at a town named Duban, and,
like Nadintu-Bel, personated Nebuchadnezzar, son of
Nabonidus. The people of Babylon again revolted,
and making this man king, prepared to resist Darius.
The Persian monarch sent a general, who advanced to
Babylon, and besieged Arahu there. How long the
siege lasted we are not told, but the Persians cap-
tured the city, and taking Arahu prisoner, crucified him.
With the crushing of the second revolt against
Persia ends the monumental history of Babylonia ; its
history after this is only the history of a province of
the successive empires of the East. It is true that
the Babylonian religion survived, and the cuneiform
writing continued to be used for some centuries ; but
these also in time perished, and at the time of the
Christian era everything but the Babylonian super-
stitions and astrology had passed away.
After the Persian conquest Babylon remained one
HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
I79
of the capitals of the empire, and it retained this posi-
tion until the rise of the city of Seleucia, after which
Babylon gradually decayed, until its palaces became
mounds of rubbish, in which it is impossible to recog-
nize the outlines and features of the original buildings.
The fall of Babylon was brought about through the
vice and corruption of the religion and morals of the
country. The numerous deities, the slavish supersti-
tions, the obscene rites of the goddesses, the debasing
ignorance of the bulk of the people, and the indolence
begotten of triumph and pillage, combined with a gene-
ral moral and mental decay, were more disastrous to
the country than the arms of the Persian conquerors.
N 2
EXPLANATION OF BABYLONIAN PROPER
NAMES.
[Added by the Editor.]
THE derivation of Babylonian proper names has to be sought, in
four different languages. The oldest names belong to the
agglutinative Accadian, the later to the inflectional Semitic.
Besides these, there are other proper names, the explanation of
which is to be found in the allied dialects of Elam and the Cassi
(Kossaeans), which belong to the same family of speech as the
Accadian.
ACCADIAN NAMES.
Ubara-Tutu, The glow of the setting sun.
Merodach, The brilliance of the sun.
Jfea, The god of the house.
Dav-kina, The mistress of the earth.
Na (or Anu), The sky.
Nana, Lady.
Dumuzi ( Tammuz), The offspring, or only son.
Sidtiri, The eye of youth.
Lig-Bagas, A lion (is) the goddess Bagas.
Dungi, The powerful.
Ri-Agu (or Eri-Aku, or Rim-Agu}, The servant of the moon-
god.
Agu-kak-rimi, The moon-god (is) the maker of our light.
Sipar (Sippara), The shrine of the sun.
Accad (Acada), The highlands.
Ur (or Muru, or Eri), The city.
Erech (Urttkf), The city of the land.
E-Stiggal, House of the high head.
Silim-kalama, Couch of the world.
ELAMITE NAMES.
Kudur-Mabuk, Servant of Mabuk.
Kudttr-Nanhundi, Servant of Nankhunta.
Kudur-Lagamar (Chedorlaomer), Servant of Lagamar.
Te-umman, Worshipper of Umman.
EXPLANATION OF PROPER NAMES. l8l
CASSITE NAMES.
Khammuragas, Khammu (is) a begetter.
Kara-indas, Servant of Indas.
Biirna-buriyas, A law (is) Buryas.
ATazi-bugas, A prince (is) Bugas (Bagas).
Meli-sipak, The man of Sipak.
Gan-duniyas, The enclosure of Duniyas.
SEMITIC NAMES.
Buzur-sadi-rabi, The defence (?) of the great mountain.
Uea-bani, Hea (is) my creator.
Ismi-Dagan, Dagon has heard.
Naram-Sin, The chosen of the moon-god.
Assur-yubalidh, Assur gave life.
Muballidhat-Seruya, The quickened of Seruya.
Bd-nirari, Bel (is) my help.
Shalmaneser ('Sallimanu-esar), Shalman guides straight.
Merodach-baladan (Maruduk-bal-iddina), Merodach gave a son.
Zamama-zakir-idina, Zamama gave a memorial.
Nebuchadrezzar (Nabu-kudura-ittsur), Nebo, defend [or has
created] the crown, or landmark.
Assur-ris-ilim, Assur, the head of the gods.
Tiglath-pileser ( Tugitlti-fal-esar), The servant of (the god) the
son of Bit-Esar.
Assur-bel-kala, Assur, the lord of all.
Maruditk-sapik-tsirrat, Merodach, the heaper up of dominion.
Hea-mukin-ziri, Hea, establisher of a seed.
Maritdiik-nadin-akhi, Merodach, the giver of brethren.
Samsu-tluna, The sun-god (is) our god.
Nabu-zakir-iscun, Nabo established the memorial.
Assur-natsir-pal, Assur, the protector of the son.
Miisallimu-Maniduk, Merodach (is) a completer.
Maruduk-baladhsn-ikbi, Merodach announced his life.
Nabu-yusabsi, Nebo caused to exist.
A'in-ziru, Establish a seed.
Sennacherib (Sin-akhi-erba), The moon-god increased brothers.
Bi'l-ibni, Bel created.
Assur-nadin-sum(i), Assur, the giver of a name.
Nabu-zir-napisti-esir, Nebo guides straight the seed of life.
Esarhaddon (Assur-akhi-iddina), Assur gave brothers.
Bel-basa,, Bel exists.
Assur-dayan, Assur(is) judge.
Assur-bani-pal, Assur, create a son.
1 82 EXPLANATION OF PROPER NAMES.
Assur-dur-tttsur, Assur, defend the fortress.
Sin-tabni-utsur, Sin, defend the offspring.
Mannu-ki-babili, What (is) like Babylon ?
ffea-mubasa, Hea (is) he that makes exist.
Nabopolassar (Nabu-pal-ittsur), Nebo, protect (or has created)
the son.
Evil-Merodach (Amil-Maniduk), The man of Merodach.
Nergal-Sarra-utsur, Nergal, protect (or has created) the king.
Ulbar-surki-iddina, The god of Bit-Ulbar gave presents.
Nabonidtts (Nabu-nahid), Nebo is glorious. (The Accadian
equivalent of nahid is imttik.)
Nadintu-Bel, The gift of Bel.
Bel (Bilu), Lord.
Nabo (Nabiu, or Nabu),T\ie. prophet.
Tasmit, The hearer.
Saru, The wind.
Bab-salimiti, Gate of peace.
Babylon (Bab-ili), Gate of God.
Elam (Elamu), The Highlands (the Semitic rendering of the
native name Khabarti, or Khubur ; Numma in Acca-
dian).
Me- Turnat, The waters of the Tornadotus.
Kar-Assur, Fort of Assur.
Imgur-Bel, The beloved (?) of Bel.
Nimit-Bel (or rather Nemid-Bel), The foundation of Bel.
INDEX,
ACCAD, or AKKAD, a district originally named from its in-
habitants, the Accadai, " Highlanders ; " also read Agane,
n. p. 61 ; first four cities, Babel, Erech, Akkad, and
Calneh, p. 61 ; the country of classical cuneiform litera-
ture, from which all the great Assyrian works were copied,
75-
Accadian language and literature, 18; libraries at Agane, Senkereh,
Ur, Erech, and Cuthah, 19; charms, ormagic formulae, divina-
tion and omens, dread of the powers of evil, hymn to the
seven baleful spirits, 20-22 ; hymns to the gods compiled
B.C. 2,000, compared with the Rig- Veda, 23, 24; hymns
to Merodach and Samas, 24, 25 ; penitential psalm, 26, 27 ;
prayer, 27 ; mythological poems founded on astronomy, 29 ;
hymns translated into Assyrian, 29 ; laws relating to
slaves, legal precedents and decisions, 30, 31 ; respect for
women, 30; language agglutinative, 35, n.
Adrahasis, or Hasisadra compared with Noah, 37.
Agu-kak-rimi restored the temple of Bel at Babylon, and
ransomed the images of Merodach and Zirat-banit from the
land of Hani, 77.
Ashdod besieged by the Egyptians, who also wrested Car-
chemish from the Assyrians, 149, 151.
Amraphel, or Amarpul, 92.
Amil-Maruduk, the Biblical Evil-Merodach, a mild and peaceful
ruler ; released Jehoiachin, but detained him in honourable
captivity; murdered by his brother-in-law, 167, 168.
Antiquity and extent of Babylonian civilization, 14, 32.
Anu, the god of heaven ; Anatu, his consort, 57.
Arahu, a Babylonian pretender, crucified by Darius, 178.
Arioch, Eri-aku, or Rim-agu, son of Kudur-mabug, 93, n.
Arts and sciences cultivated by the Babylonians, 15.
Astronomy derived from Chaldaea, 15.
Assur-dayan sent expeditions against Ituha and Gananati, 109.
Assur-nazir-pal defeated the Shuites and Babylonians, and sub-
dued the region of the Khabur, 101, 102.
Assur-ubalid's daughter married to the king of Babylonia, 85.
184 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Athara, the city where the chiefs of Pekod and Hindaru sub-
mitted and paid tribute to Sargon, 119.
BABEL, "gate of God," the Semitic rendering of Ca-Dimirra,
possibly in reference to the building of the Tower, 53, n.
Bab-salimiti, a city on the Persian Gulf, 13, 14, 131.
Babylon, city of, built in very early times, 75 ; asserted by the
Babylonians to have been a great city before the Deluge,
53 ; a place of little importance till it became the capital,
and held this position more than 1,200 years, 75 ; first
made sole capital by Khammuragas, who greatly enriched
it, and added splendour to its worship of Merodach or Bel,
8 1, 82; captured by Tiglath-pileser, 97 ; by Shalmaneser,
104; by Sargon, 121, 122; by Sennacherib, 126; by the
Elamites and Chaldaeans, 131 ; again by Sennacherib, given
up to indiscriminate plunder, completely destroyed, and the
great canal filled up with the ruins, 135, 136; rebuilt by
Esar-haddon, 139 ; captured by Assur-bani-pal, when
Saul-mugina set fire to his own palace and perished in the
flames, 147; the city rose into greater importance under
Nabopolassar, and his son, Nebuchadnezzar, became the
centre of the political world, 153 ; the latter restored its
walls, temples, and palaces on a scale of great magnificence
whilst engaged in wars with the adjoining countries, 156-
165 ; boast, "Is not this great Babylon," &c., 165 ; its
wealth and luxury, 166, 167; the Persian conquest under
Cyrus, 173, 174 ; the city captured by Darius, who put the
pretender, Nadintu-Bel, to death, and again, a few years
afterwards, when Arahu, who had personated a son of
Nabonidus, was taken prisoner and crucified, 177-178;
causes of its fall, 181.
Babylonia, boundaries of, varied at different periods, 34 ;
thought to have been first peopled by Turanians, who were
conquered and dispossessed by Semites, 34, 35 ; history of
the country translated by Berosus from its own records
into Greek in the third century, B.C., now lost except a
few fragments, 35.
Babylonian kings, lists of, &c., 8-12.
Babylonian libraries, 19 ; mathematical works, tables of squares
and cubes now in British Museum from Senkereh, 19 ;
literature, included beast-fables, contract tablets, deeds of
sale, geographical lists, chronological tables, historical
documents, copies of correspondence, catalogues of animals,
trees, stones, &c., &<x, 31, 32.
Babylonian proper names : Accadian, Elamite, Cassite, and
Semitic, 180-2.
Babylonian religion, a mixture of graceful myths and the
worship of stocks and stones, 15, 16.
INDEX. 185
Bel and Nebo, temples of, plundered by the Elamites, 94 ; by
Suzub, 134.
Bel-Merodach, 164, n.
Bel-nirari routed the Kassu, slew Nazi-bugas, and placed a son
of Burna-buriyas on the Babylonian throne, 86.
Bel-shazzar slain on the taking of Babylon by Cyrus during a
high religious festival, 173, 174.
Bel-zakir-iskun defeated by the Assyrian general, Nabu-pal-
uzur, who was rewarded with the crown of Babylonia on
his subjugation of the country, 149.
Birs Nimnkl, view of, 76.
Borsippa, a city, supposed to be the site of the Tower of Con-
fusion ; the refuge of Nabonidus on his defeat by Cyrus, 173.
Burna-buriyas confirmed a previous treaty respecting the fron-
tiers of Babylonia and Assyria, 85.
CALAH, revolt at, ended in the elevation of Tiglath-pileser, 1 10.
Cambyses murdered his brother Smerdis, conquered Egypt, but
was harassed in the latter part of his reign by revolts, and
accidentally killed whilst hastening to Persia to put down
Gomates, 176, 177.
Chaldrean accounts of creation and fall of man, 51, 52 ; of Babel,
Sippara, Larancha and Surippak before the Deluge, 53.
Chaldees, origin of, unknown ; some of the early dynasties
styled Chaldaean ; called Caldai on the monuments, and
first obtained possession of Babylon, B.C. 722, under
Merodach-baladan, 104, 105.
Chedorlaomer and his confederates ravaged and plundered
Palestine, and retired with great booty ; surprised in a
night attack near Damascus, 92, 93.
Cities of Babylonia, 16, 18.
Comparison of the Chaldtean account of the Deluge with that in
the Bible, 48, 51.
Creation, legend from, Cuthah, 19.
Cuneiform writing invented by Turanians, 16; characters at
first hieroglyphics, afterwards represented mere sounds, 17.
Cylindrical seals, 32.
Cyrus threw off the Median yoke, overran and annexed various
countries ; took Sardis, and put an end to the Lydian
kingdom ; overthrew the Babylonians in a single battle ;
seized the capital during a religious festival ; permitted
the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem, and allowed
the conquered Babylonians to retain their own worship,
172-6.
DAKKURI, a Chaldsean tribe, 139-145.
Darius, son of Hystaspes, slew the impostor Gomates, and
mounted the Persian throne ; vigorously repressed the
revolts in Elam and Babylonia, putting to death Nadintu-
1 86 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Bel, the pretended son of Nabonidus ; his general captured
Arahu, another pretender, and crucified him, 1 77> I 7&
Destruction of Babylon by Sennacherib, 136.
Division of Assyria on the fall of Nineveh, 152-155.
Dungi, a great builder of temples, 72.
Dur or Diru, 18, 108, 116.
Duran or Duban, 18, 132.
Dur-athara taken by Sargon ; rebuilt, and its name changed to
Dur-Nabu, 119.
Dur-kuri-galzu (Akkerkuf), built by Kur-galzu, 87 ; seized by
Tiglath-pileser, 96, 97.
Dur-papsakul captured by Sargon, 106, 107.
Dur-sar, an Elamite fortress, taken from Samsi-Vul, 122.
Dur-yakin, the first seat of Merodach- baladan's government,
118, 123, 124.
EDEN identified with Gan-duniyas, 52, 53.
Elam, peopled by warlike Turanians, often ruled by several petty
princes; chief cities, Shushan, Madaktu, and Hidalu, 91.
Eleventh deluge, Tablet throws light on Genesis account, 38.
Esar-haddon rebuilt Babylon, restored the images of the gods,
139 ; checked the Dakkuri, burnt their king Samas-ibni,
and received Bel-basa's submission ; released Manasseh,
&c., 140-2.
Evil-Merodach. (See AMIL-MARUDUK.)
Etanna, the mythical founder of Babel, Tammuz, and Ner, 62.
FALL of Assyria, the era of a purer faith, 153.
Fast of loo days at Nineveh, 151, n.
Frontiers of Assyria definitely settled by treaty, 102, 103.
GAN-DUNI, or KAR-DUNIAS identified with Eden, by Sir H. C.
Rawlinson, 52, 53.
HAMMURABI, or KHAMMURAGAS, the Cassite conqueror of
Babylonia, and founder of a new dynasty ; made, Babylon
sole capital, and added splendour to the worship of Mero-
dach or Bel ; was a builder of temples, palaces, and
founded several cities, besides excavating the canal named
in his honour, Hammu-rabinuhus-nisi, 81-3.
Harbi-Sipak, or Murgas-Sipak, 84.
Harris-kalama, or Kharsak-kalama, 76, 126.
Hea-bani, the astrologer, and friend of Izdubar, 58.
Hea-mubasa, a Chaldsean chief, 145.
Hea-mukin-ziru, a Chaldsean usurper, 98.
ILUL^EUS, or YUG/EUS, king of Babylon, 114.
Inda-bigas, king of Elam, 147, 148.
Iriba-Maruduk, name of a king, only found on a weight, 100.
Ishtar, the celebrated queen of Erech, 55 ; offers to marry
Izdubar, and her revenge on his refusal, 55-7.
Ishtar, the goddess, the Biblical Ashtoreth, 55, n.
INDEX. 187
Ismi-dagan, and Libit-Ishtar, kings of Karrak, 73.
Izdubar, supposed to be Nimrod, made Erech his capital ;
friendship with Hea-bani, exploits and mythical adventures,
54-7 ; journey to Hasisadra, who relates to him the story
of the Flood, 58, 59.
KARA-HARDAS, or KARA-MURDAS, son of a daughter of Assur-
ubalid, 85, 86.
Kara-indas, titles assumed by him, and his treaty with Assur-
bel-nisi-su, 84, 85.
Kara-samas, a city on the Tigris, founded by Hammurabi, 82.
Karrak, fall of, used as an era, 74.
Kassu, tribe of, first mentioned in an inscription of Aga-kak-
rimi, murdered the king of Babylon, and set up Nazi-bugas,
86.
Kassu-nadin-ahi, the successor of Hea-mukin-ziru, 98.
Kisu (Hymer), a city where Hammu-rabi restored the temple of
Zamama, and built a famous tower, 82.
Kudur-lagamar (see CHEDORLAOMER), 92.
Kudur-nanhundi invaded Babylonia, and carried away the image
of Nana, 91, 92.
Kuri-galzu restored several Chaldsean temples, and founded a
strong city near Baghdad, 87.
LARSA (Senkereh) became the capital of Riagu's dominions after
the fall of Karrak, 71, 74.
MANNU-KA-BILI, a chief of the Dakkuri, 145.
Maruduk-baladsu-iqbi vanquished by Samsi-Vul, who captureed
his wholecamp, the royal chariots, pavilion, and couch, 105-7.
Maruduk-zakir-izkur, assisted by the Assyrians, quelled a re-
bellion headed by his own brother, who was slain after
his flight to Halman, 103, 104.
Merodach-baladan I. , the successor of Mili-Sipak, routed by Vul-
nirari, who ravaged Upper Babylonia, and wrested from
him the region of the Khabur, 87.
Merodach-baladan II. rebuilt the temple of Erech, 100.
Merodach-baladan, the contemporary of Sargon and Senna-
cherib, struggled bravely for nearly thirty years to maintain
the independence of Babylonia ; formed alliances with the
Elamites, and sent an embassy to Hezekiah ; was twice
defeated and captured, and sent prisoner to Nineveh, but
again escaped ; murdered Hagisa or Akises, and mounted
the Babylonian throne, 115-125 ; this defection brought
Sennacherib against him, who, after the disastrous battle at
Kisu, entered Babylon in triumph, plundered the palace,
and destroyed nearly all the neighbouring cities and villages,
and appointed Bel-ibni as governor ; left a force to watch
for Merodach-baladan, and returned to Assyria, 126, 127 ;
in despair the fugitive king collected his adherents and the
1 88 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
images of his gods, sailed down the Persian Gulf, and
founded a Chaldaean colony in Elam, where he died, 126.
Merodach-nadin-ahi worsted Tugulti-pal-esar, and carried away
the images of Vul and Sala from Hekali, but was himself
completely overthrown the next year, when the Assyrians
seized Babylon, and nearly all the important cities, 96, 97.
Merodach-sapit-zirrat made peace with Assur-bel-kala, 97.
Merodach's war with Tiamat compared with that of Michael and
the great dragon, 52, 53, n.
Media, rise of, under Cyaxares, 149.
Medo-Persians excelled the older empires in government and
military discipline, 153.
Mili-Sipak, son of Kuri-galzu, father of Merodach-baladan I., 87.
NABU-IMTUK, or NABU-NAHID, ascended the throne after the
assassination of Laborosoarchod, 170 ; was a great builder,
and in the latter part of his reign allowed his son Bel-shazzar
(Bel-sar-uzur) to share with him the regal dignity, 171 ; fled
after his defeat, by Cyrus, to Borsippa, leaving his son to
defend Babylon (see CYRUS), 172-4.
Nabu-kudur-uzur (Nebuchadnezzar), the son of Nabu-pal-uzurr
made Babylonia the mistress of the surrounding countries,
153-5 ; surprised and routed the Egyptians at Carchemish,
and pushed his way, almost unopposed, to the frontiers of
Egypt, 1 56 ; received the submission of Jehoiakim, and a
few years later deposed Jehoiachin, and set up his uncle,
Zedekiah, in his stead, as king of Judah, 157 ; crashed the
power of Elam, and returned to Syria, fixed his head-
quarters at Riblah, besieged Tyre, and sent his general,
Nebuzaradan against Jerusalem, who captured the king
whilst attempting to escape, plundered the city, burnt and
razed it to the ground, besides carrying away most of the
inhabitants as prisoners, 156-159; left Gedaliah as governor,
who was murdered by some disaffected Jews, and the coun-
try was again ravaged and depopulated as a punishment,
161 ; he then went forward, overran and plundered Egypt,
deposed Hophra, and set up Ahmes as a vassal king, 162 ;
his conquests, 162, 163 : more famous as a builder than a
conqueror, rebuilt and adorned all the great temples, but
lavished his wealth most on Babylon, making it the grandest
city in the world, 163-6 ; the chief and lesser divinities
shared alike his devotion and gifts, 167.
Nabu-pal-idina joined the S.huites against the Assyrians, but
sustained a terrible reverse (see ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL), 101.
Xabu-pal-uzur rapidly improved the defences of Babylonia, and
began the career of conquest so ably carried on by his
illustrious son, Nebuchadnezzar, 153-6.
Nabu-zakir-iskun was unable to repel the Assyrian invaders, who
INDEX. !89
wrested from him several cities on the Tigris, including
Baghdad, or rather Khudadu, 100, 101.
Nabu-zir-napisti-esir seized his father's original dominions, and
tried to recover all Babylonia, but was beaten by the
Assyrians, and'fled to Elam, where he was murdered, 138.
Nadintu-Bel, the pretended son of Nebuchadnezzar, put to
death by Darius, 177, 178.
Nahid-Maruduk, on submitting to Esar-haddon, appointed
governor of his brother's forfeited territory, 139.
Naram-Sin, completed Bit-Ulbar, 80.
Nazi-bugas, a usurper, defeated and slain by Bel-nirari, who
placed a son of Burna-buriyas on the throne, 86.
Nazi-munidas, beaten by the Assyrians at Kar-istar-agarsal, 87,
88.
Nebuchadnezzar. (See NABU-KUDUR-UZUR.)
iN'ergal-sharezer assumed the crown after the murder of Evil-
Merodach ; was present at the taking of Jerusalem ; built a
new palace, and restored an old structure, 1 68, 169.
Ningal-idina, the Assyrian governor of Ur, besieged by Nabu-
zir-napisti-esir, 138.
Nipur (Niffer), the parent city of Ur, devoted to the worship of
Bel, Belat, and Ninip, 63, 64 ; no records of its primeval
history ; walls restored by Vul-pal-idina, ico.
CANNES, a fabulous being, said to have taught the arts of
civilized life to the Babylonians, 36.
PORUS, or PUL, thought to be Tiglath-pileser, 114.
REVOLT against Assur-bani-pal by Chaldaea, Arabia, Syria, Lydia,
Palestine, Egypt, and Elam, 142-5 ; the confederate armies
expelled the Assyrian garrisons from Babylonia, and fortified
Sippara, Babylon, Borsippa, and Cutha, as military centres,
which were successively taken by the Assyrians, 145, 146.
Rim-agu, or Ri-agu, during a peace of thirty years, largely
developed the internal resources and wealth of his country,
till it was attacked and conquered by Hammurabi, 74.
SAGA-SALTIYAS restored the temples at the two Sipparas, 84.
Sammuramit, wife of Vul-nirari, 108, 109.
Samsi-Vul utterly routed the Babylonians and their mercenaries
at Ahadaba, seized many of the important towns, and burnt
hundreds of villages (see Merodach-baladsu-iqbi), 105-7 5
renewed the war soon after, took Dur, and celebrated a
festival to its great god, 107.
Samsu-iluna, the successor of Hammurabi, excavated a large
canal named after himself, repaired Dur-Sargina, and made
images overlaid with gold for the temples of Saggal, Parra,
and Larsa, 83.
Saparda, the biblical Sepharad, 151, n.
Sargon, the Babylonian Moses, his birth, exposure and adoption,
1 90 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
by Akki, conquered the Elamites, Syrians, and Kazalla, 78,
79 ; besieged in his own capital, successful sally and rout
of the rebels, ravaged Subarti with fire and sword, 79, 80 ;
a great builder of temples and palaces, and founder of the
city Dur-Sargina, left nearly all the surrounding countries
tributary to his successor, 80.
Sargon II., soon after his accession crushed the revolt in Pales-
tine, and then marched against Merodach-baladan and his
Elamite allies, drove the latter into their own territory, and
wasted a part of Babylonia, 116, 117 ; engaged in wars the
next ten years with Syria, Media, and Armenia, 116, 117 ;
Merodach-baladan ruled well, and prepared for the renewal
of hostilities, and fortified Dur-athara to stop Sargon's ad-
vance ; but the city was captured with immense booty and
prisoners ; fourteen of the principal cities by the river Ukni
were taken and plundered, and two Elamite forts, and Sutur-
nanhundi compelled to retreat with his army to his moun-
tain territories, 1 18-20 ; next advanced towards Babylon, and
Merodach-bala<lan retreated to Iqbi-Bel, 121 ; he entered
Babylon in triumph, and offered costly sacrifices to the gods,
121, 122 ; Merodach-baladan next retired with all his forces
to Dur-yakin, where he was defeated with great slaughter,
and all his treasures captured ; he then submitted to Sargon,
and was carried into captivity with his wife and children,
123 ; the conqueror secured the friendship of the priesthood
by restoring the rites and offerings of the various gods, and
reigned at Babylon five years, where he received two
embassies from distant countries, 123, 124.
Sennacherib, on ascending the throne, resided at Nineveh, and
appointed his brother governor of Babylon, but Merodach-
baladan escaped from captivity, murdered him, and resumed
the Babylonian crown, 125 ; burning with the desire of
revenge Sennacherib hastened to Kisu, utterly routed the
Babylonians, and Merodach-baladan fled for safety to the
marshes, 125, 126 ; Babylon and the neighbouring cities
were plundered, and hundreds of villages destroyed, 126;
Bel-ibni, a court favourite, was placed on the throne, the
Nomad tribes were severely punished, and 208,000 prisoners,
with their cattle, carried away to Assyria ; a force was also
left to watch for Merodach-baladan, who collected his
adherents and abandoned his country ; founded a Chaldaean
colony in Elam, 127, 128; Suzub next defied Sennacherib's
power, but was defeated, and fled for safety to the swamps;
Bel-ibni deposed, and Assur-nadin-mu, set up as king in
his stead, 128; a powerful expedition sent by sea against
the new colony, landed, defeated them and their allies, and
forced large numbers with the cattle into the ships, and
INDEX.
191
conveyed them to Bab-salimiti, 128-31 ; Babylon captured
in the interim by the Chaldaeans and Elamites, and Suzub
again proclaimed king, but defeated by the Assyrian rein-
forcements and taken captive, sent bound to Nineveh ; a
large army ravaged Elam with fire and sword, and destroyed
most of the large cities ; Suzub escaped from confinement,
revolted, :md at first sought safety in the marshes, and after-
wards in Elam, where he raised a considerable army, re-
turned to Babylon, mounted the throne, and expelled the
Assyrians from the country, 131-3 ; the assistance of the
Elamites was obtained by Suzub with the treasures of Bel,
Nebo, and Nergal, sent as a present to Umman-minan, 134 ;
Sennacherib eagerly met the rebels at Halule, where he
gained a decisive victory, taking an incredible number of
prisoners, and heaps of spoil, but retired on the approach
of winter, 134, 135 ; the next year Babylon was stormed,
given up to plunder, the images of the gods broken up, the
city burnt, and levelled with the ground, and Suzub, with
part of his family, captured, 135, 136.
Shalmaneser III., sent three expeditions to Ituha, 109.
Simti-silhak, father of Kudur-mabuk, 74.
Sin-tabni-uzur, son of Ningal-idina, 145.
Suzub, see latter part of Sennacherib's wars, &c., 128-36.
TAB LETS relating to the close of the Assyrian monarchy, 150, 1 5 1 , n .
Tammaritu, an Elamite parricide, surrendered to Assur-bani-
pal on a promise of pardon, 146, 147.
feredon, a port on the Persian Gulf, 14.
Tiglath-pileser subdued several Babylonian tribes, appointed
military governors, built Kar-Assur, and peopled it with
captives ; captured Nabu-usabsi, and impaled him in front of
his capital, carrying off his wife, children, and gods, and a
vast number of prisoners, in, 112 ; took and sent Zakhiru
captive to Assyria, but was foiled in the siege of Sapiya,
and ravaged the surrounding country, 112, 113 ; proclaimed
king of Babylon, and instituted festivals to the great gods
in the principal cities, 113, 114.
Tower of Babel, notices of, 53, n.
Tugulti-Ninip, son of Shalmaneser, annexed Babylonia, and
took the titles of " King of Assyria," " Conqueror of Kar-
duniyas," and " King of Sumir and Akkad," but the
Babylonians regained their independence shortly after his
death, 88, 89.
ULBAR-SARKI-IDINA succeeded by his two brothers, 98, 99.
Umman-Aldas, king of Elam, murdered by his brothers, Urtaki
and Te-umman, for refusing to make war on Esar-haddon,
when the former assumed the crown, but did not follow his
own previous policy, 141.
192 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA.
Umman-Aldas, an Elamite commander, killed Inda-bigas, and
mounted the throne ; gave up the dead body of Nabu-bel-
zikri and the head of his armour-bearer to Assur-bani-pal's
envoys, 148.
Umman-igas, bribed by Saul-mugina to join the confederacy
against the Assyrians, sent his army to Babylon, when his
son, Tammaritu, rebelled, defeated the royal troops, and
sent his head as a present to Assur-bani-pal, and assumed
the crown of Elam, 145, 146.
Ur (Mugheir) succeeded Nipur as the capital of South Chaldrea,
63, 64 ; outside the walls filled with graves of all ages ;
probably the birth-place of Abraham ; devoted to the
worship of the moon-god, 65 ; first ruler, perhaps, Lig-
Bagas, 66, n. ; high state of its arts, learning, and civiliza-
tion ; carving, cylindrical seals, inscriptions ; language
generally Semitic, but Accadian still used ; religion highly
poetic with respect to rank, descent, and local character of
deities, 67, 68 ; the great gods Ann, Bel, and Hea, 68.
Ur-hamsi cures Izdubar, 61.
Urtaki, king of Elam, joined Bel-basa, and some petty chiefs in
a plundering expedition into Babylonia, which alarmed
Saul-mugina, 142, 143 ; the Elamites were pursued whilst
retreating with the spoil, routed and driven across the fron-
tiers by Assur-bani-pal, who soon afterwards conquered
the country, and placed Umman-igas on the throne as a
tributary, 143.
VUL-NIRARI III., engaged several years in wars with Syria,
Media, Dur, and Ituha, 108.
Vul-pal-idina restored the walls of Nipur, and rebuilt the temple
at Kisu, 100.
Vul-zakir-uzur had some disputes with his Assyrian contem-
poraries, 100.
WINGED Monster slain by Izdubar and Heabani, 57.
XISITHRUS, XISUTHRUS, BASIS-AURA, the Babylonian Noah,
38, n. ; residence, 53.
ZABU, the builder of the temples of Samas and Anunit at
Sippara, 75.
Zamama-zikir-idina unable to repress the raids of the Elamites
and Assyrians, 94, 95.
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